News
13.10.2021Publication of the paper "Maternal proteomic profiling reveals alterations in lipid metabolism in late-onset fetal growth restriction"
PhD. Josep Maria Estanyol, responsible of the Proteomics Unit of the CCiTUB,
along with researchers of various institutions, have published the paper "Maternal proteomic profiling reveals alterations in lipid metabolism in late-onset fetal growth restriction" in the journal Scientific Reports .
The study aims to identify proteins involved in late fetal growth restriction (FGR) processes, involving the deregulation of lipid metabolism in these complicated pregnancies.
The summary of the article is as follows:
"Fetal growth restriction defined as the failure to achieve the fetal genetic growth potential is a major cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. The role of maternal adaptations to placental insufficiency in this disorder is still not fully understood. We aimed to investigate the biological processes and protein–protein interactions involved in late-onset fetal growth restriction in particular. We applied 2D nano LC–MS/MS proteomics analysis on maternal blood samples collected at the time of delivery from 5 singleton pregnancies with late-onset fetal growth restriction and 5 uncomplicated pregnancies. Data were analyzed using R package “limma” and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. 25 proteins showed significant changes in their relative abundance in late-onset fetal growth restriction (p value <0.05). Direct protein–protein interactions network demonstrated that Neurogenic locus notch homolog protein 1 (NOTCH1) was the most significant putative upstream regulator of the observed profile. Gene ontology analysis of these proteins revealed the involvement of 14 canonical pathways. The most significant biological processes were efflux of cholesterol, efflux of phospholipids, adhesion of blood cells, fatty acid metabolism and dyslipidemia. Future studies are warranted to validate the potential role of the detected altered proteins as potential therapeutic targets in the late-onset form of fetal growth restriction"