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Expression and Functional Analysis of CXCL12 and Its Receptors in Human Term Trophoblast Cells

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Abstract

Chemokine CXCL12 and its receptors CXCR4/CXCR7 play a pivotal role in many physiological and pathological situations, while the expression and function in human term trophoblast cells remain largely unknown. In the study, the expression and function of CXCL12 and its receptors CXCR4/CXCR7 in human term trophoblast cells were investigated. Immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry showed that the expression of CXCL12/CXCR4/CXCR7 could be detected in term trophoblast cells while expression level differed. The secretion of CXCL12 in human term trophoblast cells was confirmed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In order to reveal the function of CXCL12, exogenetic recombinant human CXCL12 protein (rhCXCL12) was added to the cultured term trophoblast cells; results showed that cell proliferation ability was increased while cell apoptosis rate was decreased. Moreover, the effects of rhCXCL12 on term trophoblast cells could be diminished or attenuated by antibodies against CXCL12, CXCR4, or CXCR7, respectively. Therefore, these results revealed the important role of CXCL12 on human term trophoblast cells. Our study will provide new insights into understanding the role of CXCL12 on human term trophoblast cells.

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Acknowledgments

We thank associate professor Libo He (Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) for helping in manuscript preparation and submission.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 81771543) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (grant number: 2042017kf0083).

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Author notes

  1. Jing Lu and Ziyi Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medicine Center for Human Reproduction, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei Province, China

    Jing Lu, Liang Ren, Yifang Sun, Yuming Cao, Yao Xiong & Yuanzhen Zhang

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China

    Ziyi Wang

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  1. Jing Lu
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  7. Yuanzhen Zhang
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Correspondence to Yuanzhen Zhang.

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Lu, J., Wang, Z., Ren, L. et al. Expression and Functional Analysis of CXCL12 and Its Receptors in Human Term Trophoblast Cells. Reprod. Sci. 27, 46–54 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-019-00134-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-019-00134-0

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