RESUMO
During pregnancy, placental growth allows the adaptation of the feto-maternal unit to fetal requirements. Placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) is a phosphomonoesterase produced increasingly until term by the placenta and also ectopically in some tumors. To precise the role of this enzyme in the placenta, we analyzed the genome wide expression profile of HTR-8/Svneo trophoblastic cells after overexpression of the alkaline phosphatase gene (ALPP). We showed that ALPP overexpression mainly altered expression of genes implicated in cellular growth and proliferation. These results were confirmed by the study of cellular effects in HTR-8/Svneo cells overexpressing ALPP and in HTR-8/Svneo cells in which ALPP expression was suppressed by siRNA. We showed that PLAP exerts a positive effect on DNA replication and acts as a proliferative factor in trophoblastic cells.
