An old friend with a new face: YB-1 and its role in healthy pregnancy and pregnancy-associated complications

Abstract

By promoting tissue invasion, cell growth and angiogenesis, the Y-box binding protein (YB-1) became famous as multifunctional oncoprotein. However, this designation is telling only part of the story. There is one particular time in life when actual tumorigenic-like processes become undoubtedly welcome, namely pregnancy. It seems therefore reasonable that YB-1 plays also a crucial role in reproduction, and yet this biological aspect of the cold-shock protein has been overlooked for many years. To overcome this limitation, we would like to propose a new perspective on YB-1 and emphasize its pivotal functions in healthy pregnancy and pregnancy-related complications. Moreover, we will discuss findings obtained from cancer research in the light of reproductive events to elucidate the importance of YB-1 at the feto-maternal interface.

Keywords: YB-1 protein; cold shock protein; implantation; pregnancy; trophoblast.

FIGURE 1

Transcriptional analysis of genes related to pregnancy. The expression of indicated genes was measured by RT-PCR in uterine/decidual tissue of heterozygous YB-1 and wildtype mice at GD14. The graphic shows the x-fold-expression of the heterozygous YB-1 mice in comparison to the wildtype group according to ddCt method. n = 4 (for method details and primer sequences see supplementary material). Ybx1, Y-box binding protein 1β; Il1b, interleukin beta; Nfkb1, nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells subunit 1; Mmp2/3/12; matrix metallopeptidase 2/3/12.