Reduced placental telomere length during pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction

Recent studies have shown that telomere length was significantly reduced in placentas collected at delivery from pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction secondary to placental insufficiency. Placental telomere length measurement during ongoing pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction has never been reported. This was the main objective of our study.

In our center, late chorionic villus samplings were performed between 18 and 37 weeks of amenorrhea in 24 subjects with severe intrauterine growth restriction (cases) and in 28 subjects with other indications for prenatal diagnosis (controls). Placental insufficiency was assessed by histo-pathological examination. Relative measurement of telomere length was carried out prospectively by quantitative Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization using fluorescent Peptide Nucleic Acid probes on interphase nuclei obtained from long-term cultured villi and with an automated epifluorescent microscope. A quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction technique was performed to confirm the quantitative Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization results. The number of copies of gene loci encoding the RNA template (hTERC) and the catalytic subunit (hTERT) of the enzyme complex telomerase were also estimated in these placentas by Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization.

Mean fluorescence intensity of telomere probes estimated by quantitative Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization was significantly less for cases compared to controls (p<0.001). This result indicated that mean telomere length was significantly reduced in placentas during pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction. Reduced telomere length was confirmed by the quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction technique. No copy number variation of the hTERC and hTERT loci was noticed for cases, or for controls.

This study clearly demonstrates a reduction of placental telomere length in ongoing pregnancies (from 18 to 37 weeks of amenorrhea) complicated by severe intrauterine growth restriction secondary to placental insufficiency.