KRT18 regulates trophoblast cell migration and invasion which are essential for embryo implantation.

Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101153627 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1477-7827 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14777827 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Reprod Biol Endocrinol Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, 2003-

Embryo Implantation* ; Trophoblasts* ; Keratin-18*/metabolism; Animals ; Female ; Mice ; Pregnancy ; Cadherins ; Embryonic Development

Female infertility is a worldwide concern that impacts the quality of life and well-being of affected couples. Failure of embryo implantation is a major cause of early pregnancy loss and is precisely regulated by a programmed molecular mechanism. Recent studies have shown that proper trophoblast adhesion and invasion are essential for embryo implantation. However, the potential regulatory mechanism involved in trophoblast adhesion and invasion has yet to be fully elucidated. KRT18 has been reported to play a critical role in early embryonic development, but its physiological function in embryo implantation remains unclear. In the present study, we revealed that KRT18 was highly expressed in trophoblast cells and that knockdown of KRT18 in mouse embryos inhibited embryo adhesion and implantation. In vitro experiments further showed that silencing KRT18 disturbed trophoblast migration and invasion. More importantly, we provide evidence that KRT18 directly binds to and stabilizes cell surface E-cadherin in trophoblast cells through microscale thermophoresis (MST) analysis and molecular biology experiments. In brief, our data reveal that KRT18, which is highly expressed in trophoblast cells, plays an important role in the regulation of trophoblast invasion and adhesion during embryo implantation by directly binding to E-cadherin.
(© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

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82001543 National Natural Science Foundation of China; LY19H040015 Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China; LY22H040012 Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China

Keywords: Cell invasion; Cell migration; E-cadherin; Embryo adhesion; Embryo implantation; KRT18

0 (Cadherins)
0 (Keratin-18)

Date Created: 20230824 Date Completed: 20230901 Latest Revision: 20231118

20250114

PMC10464462

10.1186/s12958-023-01129-y

37620903