iScience (Nov 2023)

Amnion responses to intrauterine inflammation and effects of inhibition of TNF signaling in preterm Rhesus macaque

  • Pietro Presicce,
  • Monica Cappelletti,
  • Marco Morselli,
  • Feiyang Ma,
  • Paranthaman Senthamaraikannan,
  • Giulia Protti,
  • Brian B. Nadel,
  • Laila Aryan,
  • Mansoureh Eghbali,
  • Lukasz Salwinski,
  • Neema Pithia,
  • Emily De Franco,
  • Lisa A. Miller,
  • Matteo Pellegrini,
  • Alan H. Jobe,
  • Claire A. Chougnet,
  • Suhas G. Kallapur

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 26, no. 11
p. 108118

Abstract

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Summary: Intrauterine infection/inflammation (IUI) is a frequent complication of pregnancy leading to preterm labor and fetal inflammation. How inflammation is modulated at the maternal-fetal interface is unresolved. We compared transcriptomics of amnion (a fetal tissue in contact with amniotic fluid) in a preterm Rhesus macaque model of IUI induced by lipopolysaccharide with human cohorts of chorioamnionitis. Bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) amnion transcriptomic profiles were remarkably similar in both Rhesus and human subjects and revealed that induction of key labor-mediating genes such as IL1 and IL6 was dependent on nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling and reversed by the anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antibody Adalimumab. Inhibition of collagen biosynthesis by IUI was partially restored by Adalimumab. Interestingly, single-cell transcriptomics, flow cytometry, and immunohistology demonstrated that a subset of amnion mesenchymal cells (AMCs) increase CD14 and other myeloid cell markers during IUI both in the human and Rhesus macaque. Our data suggest that CD14+ AMCs represent activated AMCs at the maternal-fetal interface.

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