Resumen de Expression of the retinoblastoma-related p107 and Rb2/p130 genes in human placenta: an imunohistochemical study

I. Cavallotti, L. De Luca, A. D'Aponte, M. De Falco, F. Acanfora, M.L. Visciano, L. Gualdiero, B. De Luca, A. Baldi, A. De Luca

• It has been propo~ed that tumor ~uppressor genes may have a role in the mechanis ms of proliferation and differentiation during human placental development. The Retinoblastoma gene family is a well known family of tumor suppressor genes. Many studies have pointed out a role of this family not only in cell cycle progression, but a lso during development and differentiation. On the light of these observations we have investigated the immunohistochemica l expressio n pattern of the Retinoblastoma family members, p107 and Rb2/ p130 in human placenta sa mples in first trimes te r and full-term placental sectio ns . pl07 and pRb2/ p130 showed the most abundant expression levels during the first trimester of gestation and progressively declined to being barely detectable in the placenta by late gestation. These results indicate that the express io n of the above genes is modulated during placental development and ~ugge~t a mech anis m for controlling tro phoblast proliferation.