Here and there a trophoblast, a transcriptional evaluation of trophoblast cell models

A recent explosion of methods to produce human trophoblast and stem cells (hTSCs) is fuelling a renewed interest in this tissue. The trophoblast is critical to reproduction by facilitating implantation, maternal physiological adaptations to pregnancy and the growth of the fetus through transport of nutrients between the mother and fetus. More broadly, the trophoblast has phenotypic properties that make it of interest to other fields. Its angiogenic and invasive properties are similar to tumours and could identify novel drug targets, and its ability to regulate immunological tolerance of the allogenic fetus could lead to improvements in transplantations. Within this review, we integrate and assess transcriptomic data of cell-based models of hTSC alongside in vivo samples to identify the utility and applicability of these models. We also integrate single-cell RNA sequencing data sets of human blastoids, stem cells and embryos to identify how these models may recapitulate early trophoblast development.