Hypoxia-induced membrane-bound apoptotic DNA particles: Potential mechanism of fetal DNA in maternal plasma

Aaron F. Orozco, Farideh Z. Bischoff, Cassandra Horne, Edwina Popek, Joe Leigh Simpson, Dorothy E. Lewis

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fetal DNA is found in the plasma of pregnant women that appears to be stable for PCR amplification. Although the underlying mechanism giving rise to this DNA in plasma remains unclear, the source of these fragments may be from apoptotic bodies (Apo-Bodies) created from dying cells. Trophoblast apoptosis is essential for normal placental development, given the enormous amount of proliferation, differentiation, and migration during pregnancy. Through flow cytometric analysis coupled with real-time PCR, our lab has shown that aggregates of acridine orange (AO)-stained material (apoptotic particles) are resistant to DNase treatment, disrupted by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and contain fetal DNA. Because the placenta continuously remodels in an hypoxic environment, our hypothesis is that fetal DNA in maternal plasma comes from hypoxia-induced dying trophoblasts and that this DNA circulates predominately in the form of Apo-Bodies. We have developed a model culture system for analysis of Apo-Bodies derived from JEG-3 cells, an extravillous trophoblastic cell line, undergoing various methods of cell death: hypoxia-induced, etoposide-induced, and heat stress (necrosis like)-induced cell death. Under conditions of similar propidium iodide (PI) uptake, suggesting comparable levels of death, both hypoxia- and etoposide-induced Apo-Bodies increase in concentration over time, whereas heat-induced levels of particles remain fairly constant, indicating that production of DNA-associated Apo-Bodies is a continuous process. Hypoxia, which is likely to be responsible for trophoblast cell death in vivo, produced membrane-bound Apo-Bodies containing DNA. Our results are consistent with the characteristics of membrane-bound particles containing fetal DNA found in maternal plasma.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCirculating Nucleic Acids in Plasma and Serum IV
PublisherBlackwell Publishing Inc.
Pages57-62
Number of pages6
ISBN (Print)157331627X, 9781573316279
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2006

Publication series

NameAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Volume1075
ISSN (Print)0077-8923
ISSN (Electronic)1749-6632

Keywords

  • Apoptotic bodies
  • Fetal DNA

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Neuroscience
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • History and Philosophy of Science

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