TROFOBLASTCELLEN CIRCULEREND IN HET MOEDERLIJK BLOED:MOGELIJKHEDEN VOOR DIAGNOSTIEK

During early human pregnancy, extravillus trophoblast cells invade the maternal uterine tissue, colonize the interstitium and replace the endothelium lining of spiral arteries in decidual and myometrial segments of the uterus. Invasion of endovascular trophoblast cells causes a physiological change of these arteries, in order to guarantee a constant bloodflow from the mother to the fetus. During early pregnancy, these extravillus endovascular trophoblast cells circulate in the maternal peripheral blood. Besides their use for prenatal diagnosis of genetic diseases, these extravillus trophoblast cells isolated from the peripheral blood of pregnant women can be useful for early detection of common pregnancy-associated diseases, like pre-eclampsia. In vitro culture of these trophoblast cells can be useful for investigation of regulation of the invasion process with respect to tumorbiology.