The Pleiotropic Effect of Glycodelin‐A in Early Pregnancy

Abstract

Successful pregnancy depends largely on adequate placentation and maternal tolerance of the fetus. Glycodelin-A is a glycoprotein abundant in the decidua during early pregnancy. It plays an important role in placental development and fetomaternal defense. Glycodelin-A interacts by its unique carbohydrate side chains with the cell surface of various cell types in the human fetomaternal interface, particularly the trophoblasts and the immune cells, and modulates their functions and differentiation to permit successful pregnancy. Abnormal levels of glycodelin-A in the endometrium, uterine flushings, and/or maternal serum correlate with unexplained infertility, early pregnancy loss, and recurrent miscarriage. This review integrates recent studies on the role of glycodelin-A in placental development and fetomaternal tolerance in early pregnancy.

Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin: New Pleiotropic Functions for an “Old” Hormone During Pregnancy

“…Glycodelin is a protein secreted by the glandular portion of the endometrium that is expressed during and after the implant window (167). This protein has been suggested to play a role as an immunomodulator for the prevention of fetal allograft rejection by maternal cells (168,169). FIGURE 2 | Impact of uterine infusion of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) in classical in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients and in patient suffering from repeated implantation failure (RIF) (at least three embryos have been transferred in these patients, and no pregnancy was observed).…”

Intrauterine infusion of human chorionic gonadotropin before embryo transfer in IVF/ET cycle: The critical review

“…32 Interestingly, it has been shown that urine-purified and recombinant hCG are able to stimulate the production of LIF both in vitro 33 and human female in vivo. 35,36 Intrauterine infusion of recombinant hCG during the WOI in a non-human primate model significantly up-regulated glycodelin expression by endometrial cells. 9 This protein was suggested to play a putative role as an immune modulator for the prevention of maternal immune rejection to the fetal allograft.…”

“…9 This protein was suggested to play a putative role as an immune modulator for the prevention of maternal immune rejection to the fetal allograft. 35,36 Intrauterine infusion of recombinant hCG during the WOI in a non-human primate model significantly up-regulated glycodelin expression by endometrial cells. 37 Although cycling glycodelin has been proposed as a potential marker for endometrial receptivity, the results are still controversial.…”

The Role of Glycodelin in the Regulation of the Immune System in the Context of Developing Pregnancy

“…They differ only in glycosylation. Initially, three potential N-glycosylation sites were found at positions 28, 63, and 85, but later it turned out that only the first two of them were glycosylated [13,40,41,45]. Mass spectrometric analysis of GdA and glycodelin S (GdS) N-glycans showed significant differences between them.…”