Elucidation of expression and pathological significance of endoplasmic reticulum chaperone-carnexin in placental insufficiency

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K09500
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 56040:Obstetrics and gynecology-related
• Research Institution: Wakayama Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Matsukawa Hitomi 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 博士研究員 (10816705)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 池崎 みどり 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (40549747) ; 岩橋 尚幸 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (50750907) ; 井箟 一彦 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (60303640) ; 井原 義人 和歌山県立医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (70263241)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: CNX / CRT / hCG / placenta

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Preeclampsia (PE) and fetal growth failure are pregnancy complications that have a major impact on maternal and infant prognosis, and placental hypoplasia has been suggested as a cause of this． We have obtained preliminary findings that the expression level of carnexin (CNX) is reduced in the placental tissue of PE． Therefore, CNX-low-expressing BeWo cells were produced and cell biological analysis related to syncytiation in the same cells was performed． As a result, CNX has an important physiological function in the placental formation process, and as a result of the decrease in CNX expression level, the LHCGR expression level on the cell surface decreases, resulting in B-hCG production failure, suggesting that CNX is involved in placental formation．

Free Research Field

産婦人科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

今回得られた結果をもとに，今後はさらにPEやFGRを含む妊婦症例の妊娠期間中の母体血および分娩時の胎盤・臍帯血におけるCNXや関連分子の解析を行い，妊娠や胎盤形成における小胞体ストレス応答，CNXが関わる絨毛細胞機能制御との関連を明らかにし，胎盤形成不全のさらなる病態解明を目指す予定である．これらの成果を統合して，胎盤形成不全におけるCNXの新たな制御分子としての役割に関する基礎医学的な知識基盤を作り出すことで，PEやFGRの新規治療開発のみならず，細胞生物学・医学生化学領域における学術発展への貢献が期待できる．