Stem cell insights into human trophoblast lineage differentiation

<span class="paragraphSection"><div class="boxTitle">BACKGROUND</div>The human placenta is vital for fetal development, yet little is understood about how it forms successfully to ensure a healthy pregnancy or why this process is inadequate in 1 in 10 pregnancies, leading to miscarriage, intrauterine growth restriction or preeclampsia. Trophoblasts are placenta-specific epithelial cells that maximize nutrient exchange. All trophoblast lineages are thought to arise from a population of trophoblast stem cells (TSCs). However, whilst the isolation of murine TSC has led to an explosion in understanding murine placentation, the isolation of an analogous human TSC has proved more difficult. Consequently, alternative methods of studying human trophoblast lineage development have been employed, including human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) and transformed cell lines; but what do these proxy models tell us about what is happening during early placental development?<div class="boxTitle">OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE</div>In this systematic review, we evaluate current approaches to understanding human trophoblast lineage development in order to collate and refine these models and inform future approaches aimed at establishing human TSC lines.<div class="boxTitle">SEARCH METHODS</div>To ensure all relevant articles were analysed, an unfiltered search of Pubmed, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science was conducted for 25 ...
Source: Human Reproduction Update - Category: OBGYN Source Type: research