Characterization of gene expression changes over healthy term pregnancies

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Anna K Knight, Emory University; Anne Lang Dunlop, Emory University; Varun Kilaru, Emory University; Dawayland Cobb, Emory University; Elizabeth Corwin, Emory University; Karen N Conneely, Emory University; Alicia K Smith, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2018-10-10
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2018 Knight et al.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204228
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: PLoS ONE
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 10
• Start Page: e0204228
• End Page: e0204228
• Grant/Funding Information: The study was also supported by the Office of the Director (grant UG3OD023318 to Anne L Dunlop) and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (grant T32 GM 8490-24 to Ms. Anna K Knight).; Research reported in this publication was supported in part by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD, https://nimhd.nih.gov) of the National Institutes of Health, award number R01MD009064 to AKS and ALD, and the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR, https://www.ninr.nih.gov) of the National Institutes of Health, under award number R01NR014800 to ALD and EJC.
• Keywords: MICROARRAY; BLOOD MONONUCLEAR-CELLS; Science & Technology; ARTHRITIS; Multidisciplinary Sciences; Science & Technology - Other Topics; BACTERIAL VAGINOSIS; PRETERM BIRTH
• Research Categories: Biology, Molecular; Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology; Biology, Genetics

Abstract

During pregnancy, women experience numerous physiological changes but, to date, there is limited published data that characterize accompanying changes in gene expression over pregnancy. This study sought to characterize the complexity of the transcriptome over the course of pregnancy among women with healthy pregnancies. Subjects provided a venous blood sample during early (6-15 weeks) and late (22-33 weeks) pregnancy, which was used to isolate peripheral blood mononuclear cells prior to RNA extraction. Gene expression was examined for 63 women with uncomplicated, term deliveries. We evaluated the association between weeks gestation at sample collection and expression of each transcript. Of the 16,311 transcripts evaluated, 439 changed over pregnancy after a Bonferroni correction to account for multiple comparisons. Genes whose expression increased over pregnancy were associated with oxygen transport, the immune system, and host response to bacteria. Characterization of changes in the transcriptome over the course of healthy term pregnancies may enable the identification of genes whose expression predicts complications or adverse outcomes of pregnancy.