Trophoblast invasion

Abstract

Trophoblast invasion can be seen as a tightly regulated battle between the competing interests of the survival of the fetus and those of the mother. Successful pregnancy is dependent on the trophoblast invading the mother, attaching the pregnancy to the uterus and securing an adequate supply of oxygen and nutrient to the fetus. For successful invasion to occur, extravillous trophoblast has to perform a range of functions; transformation of the maternal spiral arteries, tolerate hypoxia, proliferate and die by apoptosis (programmed cell death), differentiate, adhere to and digest the extracellular matrix, move and interact with the maternal immune system. Each of these functions has multiple overlapping control systems so that trophoblast invasion is a finely controlled balance of competing mechanisms.