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Updated: Jul 28, 2026

Modified Yeast-Two-Hybrid System to Identify Proteins Interacting with the Growth Factor Progranulin
Published on: January 17, 2012
Growth factor receptor-protein bound 2 (GRB2) upregulation in the placenta in preeclampsia implies a possible role
Eyal Y Anteby1, Suhail Ayesh, Mara Shochina
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopus, and The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, P.O. Box 24035, 91240 Jerusalem, Israel.
Objectives:
To screen for genes with altered expression in placentas from pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia.
Study Design:
To corroborate gene expression profile of preeclamptic and normal placentas (ATLAS Clontech), by dot blot, Northern blot analysis and RT-PCR for growth factor receptor bound-protein 2 (GRB2), using immunohistochemistry to localize its expression in the placenta.
Results:
Increased expression of GRB2 upregulated in the microarrays was found in preeclampsia by Dot blot and Northern blot analysis. RT-PCR performed with primers specific for GRB2 and its alternatively spliced isoform GRB3-3 showed that most of the cDNA represented in the array was GRB2. The protein was localized to the smooth muscle wall of stem vessels by immunohistochemistry.
Conclusion:
The ras signalling activated by placental receptor tyrosine kinases may play a role in the segmental thickening of the stem vascular wall in preeclamptic placentas, resulting in reduced blood flow to the developing fetus.
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