The Involvement of Cell Adhesion Molecules, Tight Junctions, and Gap Junctions in Human Placentation

Abstract

Placentation is a major determinant of the success of pregnancy. It is regulated by several factors such as cell adhesion molecules, tight junctions, and gap junctions. The cell adhesion molecules are integrins, cadherins, immunoglobulins, nectins, and selectins. The tight junctions are composed of claudins, occludin, and junction adhesion molecule proteins while the gap junctions are composed of connexins of varying molecular weights. During placentation, some of these molecules regulate trophoblast proliferation, trophoblast fusion, trophoblast migration, trophoblast invasion, trophoblastendothelium adhesion, glandular remodeling, and spiral artery remodeling. There is a dysregulated placental expression of some of these molecules during obstetric complications. We have, hereby, indicated the expression patterns of the subunits of each of these molecules in the various trophoblast subtypes and in the decidua, and have highlighted their involvement in physiological and pathological placentation. The available evidence points to the relevance of these molecules as distinguishing markers of the various trophoblast lineages and as potential therapeutic targets in the management of malplacentation-mediated diseases.

Characterization of methylation profiles in spontaneous preterm birth placental villous tissue

“…Our pathway analyses of the more methylated DMRs, yielded two pathways with statistical over-representation, WNT and Cadherin signaling. Both of these pathways are necessary for placental development and maturation [86][87][88][89] and a prior methylation study in PE also identified differential methylation (increased methylation) in WNT and cadherin signaling 90 , which is in agreement with our findings. Given that over 50% of PE cases have hypermaturity along with the pathological hallmarks of PE, this may indicate a role for these pathways in placental maturation.…”

“…Our pathway analyses of the more methylated DMRs, yielded two pathways with statistical over-representation, WNT and Cadherin signaling. Both pathways are necessary for placental development and maturation [81][82][83][84] and a prior methylation study in PE also identified differential methylation (increased methylation) in WNT and cadherin signaling [85],…”

Let’s Talk about Placental Sex, Baby: Understanding Mechanisms That Drive Female- and Male-Specific Fetal Growth and Developmental Outcomes

“…Subsequent KEGG pathway analysis identified genes involved in the cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) pathway to be enriched in male placentae. The physiological relevance of this finding was not discussed; however, work by others has identified an important role for CAMs in mediating appropriate placentation [34]. Therefore, the observed enrichment of the CAMs pathway in the late gestation male placentae may be an attempted male-specific compensatory adaptation to ensure continued placental invasiveness, perhaps to mitigate adverse events in late gestation brought on by suboptimal placentation.…”

Comparative Docking Analysis of Vitexin and Tamoxifen with EMT Marker

“….2) using the ligands vitexin and tamoxifen. (Adu-Gyamfi et al, 2021;Zaidel-Bar, 2013). Institute of Science, BHU Varanasi, India The results depicted in Table 1 details the properties of the selected ligands vitexin and tamoxifen which clearly indicates that the vitexin has more surface area than tamoxifen which reflects in total number of atoms and their molecular weight.…”