Mudan Lu

Application of multiplex SNaPshot assay in measurement of PLAC4 RNA-SNP allelic ratio for noninvasive prenatal detection of trisomy 21

For the samples in which the fetus was heterozygous for the placenta‐specific 4 (PLAC4) single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), our research is to develop a rapid, accurate, and cost‐effective assay for the noninvasive prenatal detection of fetal trisomy 21 (T21).

Explore the dynamic alternation of gene PLAC4 mRNA expression levels in maternal plasma in second trimester for nonivasive detection of trisomy 21

Objective Noninvasive prenatal detection of trisomy 21 (T21) has been achieved by measuring the ratio of two alleles of a single nucleotide polymorphism in circulating placenta specific 4 (PLAC4) mRNA in maternal plasma with a few assays in recent years. Our research is to explore the variations of PLAC4 mRNA expression level in maternal plasma with normal pregnancies in second trimester, which can provide pregnant women deeper insights with suitable detection period for the non-invasive prenatal detection of T21. Methods We measured a serial plasma PLAC4 mRNA concentrations weekly from the same 25 singleton normal pregnant women. We recruited maternal plasma samples from 45 singleton pregnant women, comprising of 25 euploid pregnancies (control group; range, 17 to 21 weeks) and 20 T21 pregnancies (T21 group; range, 19 to 24 weeks). With the application of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, we achieved an insight of PLAC4 mRNA expression levels in maternal plasma during second trimester with euploid pregnancies. Results Among the control group, the levels of PLAC4 mRNA expression in the gestation of 17 to 18 weeks were significantly less than those in the gestation of 18 to 21 weeks (P<0.05). The average PLAC4 mRNA concentration of the normal pregnant women was not higher than that of the T21 group (P>0.05). Conclusion The PLAC4 mRNA showed a higher level of expression in the gestation of 18 to 21 weeks with an euploid pregnancy of pregnant women. We also found that there was no significant difference in plasma PLAC4 mRNA concentration between the normal and the T21 pregnancies in second trimester.

Novel rapid molecular diagnosis of fetal chromosomal abnormalities associated with recurrent pregnancy loss

Labor‐intensive karyotyping is used as the reference standard diagnostic test to identify copy number variants (CNVs) in the fetal genome after recurrent pregnancy loss. Our aim was to present and evaluate a novel molecular assay called CNVplex that could potentially be used as an alternative method to conventional karyotyping for diagnosing fetal chromosomal abnormalities associated with recurrent pregnancy loss.

FOXO3a Reverses the Cisplatin Resistance in Ovarian Cancer

OBJECTIVE Ovarian cancer is one of the most serious disease in female reproductive system. Platinum is the first-line drug for the treatment of ovarian cancer, while the resistance of platinum drug in clinical hindered the relief ovarian cancer. Our previous study found that decreased FOXO3a might be a poor prognosis in human ovarian cancer. In this research, we study whether FOXO3a was involved in the mechanism of platinum drug resistance. METHODS The CCK-8 and FACS analysis were used to monitor the survival of ovarian cancer, and the FOXO3a expression was detected by western-blot. RESULTS We found that FOXO3a expression upregulated significantly in A2780 compared with A2780/DDP cells with the treatment of platinum. Moreover, overexpression of FOXO3a in ovarian cancer inversed the platinum resistance in ovarian cancer. CONCLUSION These observations reminded that the role of FOXO3a might be one of the critical mechanisms in developing platinum drug resistance in ovarian cancer.