The roles of ADAMDEC1 in trophoblast differentiation during normal pregnancy and preeclampsia

Human cytotrophoblast (CTB) differentiation into syncytiotrophoblast (STB) is essential for placental formation and function. Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in trophoblast differentiation is necessary as it would help in the development of novel therapeutic agents to treat placentation-mediated pregnancy complications. In this study, we found a common upregulated gene, ADAM-like Decysin-1 (ADAMDEC1), from five published microarray and RNA-sequencing datasets. Interference to ADAMDEC1 impaired forskolin-induced BeWo cells differentiation, while ADAMDEC1 overexpression promoted BeWo cells and 3D JEG-3 spheroids differentiation. Interestingly, ADAMDEC1 may inhibit Thrombospondin 1 rather than E-cadherin to trigger the activation of the cAMP signal pathway during CTB differentiation into STB. More importantly, a decreasing in ADAMDEC1 might be involved in the development of preeclampsia. Therefore, ADAMDEC1 is expected to become a new target for prediction of and intervention in placenta-derived pregnancy diseases.