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Thyroid peroxidase in human endometrium and placenta: a potential target for anti-TPO antibodies

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Abstract

Autoimmune thyroid disease is the most common endocrine disorder during pregnancy. Thyroid autoantibodies (TAs) have been suggested to serve a role in implantation failure and spontaneous abortion. Until now, there are no data on the potential interaction of TAs with human reproductive organs. Here, we set out for the first time to test this hypothesis by studying the expression of thyroid peroxidase (TPO) at gene and protein level in human reproductive organs. Endometrial samples were taken from normal women, and placenta tissues were collected after full-term caesarian section. Expression of TPO messenger RNA (mRNA) was investigated by qRT-PCR. In addition, polyclonal anti-TPO antibodies were produced and the expression of TPO protein in mentioned tissues was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis. The reactivity of anti-TPO antibody in human embryos was evaluated by immunofluorescent staining. For the first time, our study showed that TPO is expressed at gene and protein levels in endometrium and placenta. TPO expression was mainly localized to glandular and luminal epithelial cells in the endometrium. In placenta, the syncytiotrophoblasts and invasive trophoblast cells were the main cell types that expressed TPO protein. Specific band of approximately 110 kDa was observed in all endometrial and placental tissues by Western blot analysis. However, no expression of TPO protein was observed in human embryo. TPO expression in endometrium and placenta may explain higher frequency of abortion and infertility in patients with thyroid autoimmunity.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all participants who entered our study.

Funding

This work was supported partially by grant of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (research Grant No. 395057) and also by the grant from Iran National Science Foundation (research Grant No. 95818097), and Avicenna Research Institute (research Grant No. 96–035), Islamic Republic of Iran. The funding body was not involved in collection, analysis, interpretation of data, and in writing of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Reyhane Rahnama & Abbas Rezaei

  2. Immunology Research Center, Institute of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Ahmad-Reza Mahmoudi

  3. Reproductive Biotechnology Research Center, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran

    Somayeh Kazemnejad

  4. Department of Genetic, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Mansour Salehi

  5. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Al-Zahra University Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Ataollah Ghahiri

  6. Avicenna Infertility Clinic, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran

    Haleh Soltanghoraee

  7. Reproductive Immunology Research Center, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran

    Sedigheh Vafaei & Amir Hassan Zarnani

  8. Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Amir Hassan Zarnani

  9. Immunology Research Center (IRC), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Amir Hassan Zarnani

Authors
  1. Reyhane Rahnama
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  2. Ahmad-Reza Mahmoudi
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  3. Somayeh Kazemnejad
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  4. Mansour Salehi
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  7. Sedigheh Vafaei
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  8. Abbas Rezaei
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  9. Amir Hassan Zarnani
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Abbas Rezaei or Amir Hassan Zarnani.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests concerning this article.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the Ethics Committee of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (Code of Ethics: IR.MUI.REC.1395.3.057) and ARI infertility clinic ethics committee (Code of Ethics: IR.ACECR.AVICENNA.REC.1397.025) and with the Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Rahnama, R., Mahmoudi, AR., Kazemnejad, S. et al. Thyroid peroxidase in human endometrium and placenta: a potential target for anti-TPO antibodies. Clin Exp Med 21, 79–88 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-020-00663-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-020-00663-y

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