By using microarray screening and multiple approaches, the research group led by Professor Enkui Duan at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, found that CXCL14, a cytokine gene previously known for leukocytes recruitment and tumor suppression, was spatiotemporally expressed in both mouse and human implantation sites, with highlighted expression in the invading trophoblast. Further functional studies revealed that CXCL14 could significantly inhibit both mouse and human trophoblast invasion by suppressing gelatinase activity. Moreover, since CXCL14’s specific receptor has not been identified, the authors used a biotinylated CXCL14 binding assay to detect the potential bioactive target at the fetal-maternal interface, it is found that the trophoblast but not the decidual cells showed a strong binding activity of CXCL14, suggesting that the trophoblast cells express the unidentified CXCL14 receptor(s). These studies revealed a novel regulator negatively controlling trophoblast invasion in an autocrine/paracine manner in the context of early pregnancy.

The above research results on mouse and human were recently published in Journal of cellular physiology (2009 Nov.221(2):448-57.) and Endocrinology (2009 Oct 15. [Epub ahead of print]) respectively. These works were supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences Knowledge Innovation Program Grant KSCX2-YW-R-080, National Basic Research Program of China Grants 2006CB944006 and 2006CB504006.

For more details please read following 2 papers.

1. Kuang H, Chen Q, Fan X, Zhang Y, Zhang L, Peng H, Cao Y, Duan E*. 2009 CXCL14 inhibits trophoblast outgrowth via a paracrine/autocrine manner during early pregnancy in mice. J Cell Physiol. 221(2):448-57.

2. Kuang H, Chen Q, Zhang Y, Zhang L, Peng H, Ning L, Cao Y, Duan E*: The cytokine gene, CXCL14, restricts human trophoblast cell invasion by suppressing gelatinase activity. Endocrinology 2009 Oct 15. [Epub ahead of print]