(Press-News.org) BOSTON, MA – A new study led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute has identified that a deficit in the placental expression of the gene insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGFBP1) and low IGFBP1 circulating levels are associated with insulin resistance during pregnancy, highlighting a potential risk factor for the development of gestational diabetes.
The study, “Placental IGFBP1 levels during early pregnancy and the risk of insulin resistance and gestational diabetes,” appears in the April 16, 2024 edition of Nature Medicine.
Gestational diabetes, a disease that can lead to multiple pregnancy and delivery complications, is the most common pregnancy metabolic complication, affecting 1 in 7 pregnancies. Existing research has shown that excess insulin resistance in pregnancy contributes to gestational diabetes, but the exact causes of this resistance remain unclear.
“The placenta – the major driver of changes in insulin physiology in pregnancy – is likely a key source of hormones involved in the development of gestational diabetes,” says Marie-France Hivert, Harvard Medical School associate professor of population medicine at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and lead author of the study. “Our goal was to discover novel placental factors that are implicated in gestational diabetes, by studying all proteins expressed in placenta tissues, across the human genome. We identified placental insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGFBP1) as a secreted placental factor that is likely implicated in regulation of glucose in human pregnancy.”
The study builds on Dr. Hivert’s extensive research into the determinants of gestational diabetes using genetics and other omics approaches, and their interaction with lifestyle and environmental factors. The study team conducted genome-wide RNA sequencing on maternal-facing placental tissue samples, and measured identified proteins in blood collected in multiple pregnancy cohorts with diverse backgrounds.
The team identified 14 genes whose placental RNA expression levels were associated with insulin resistance, finding the strongest association with gene IGFBP1. By measuring the IGFBP1 protein levels in circulation, they found that IGFBP1 levels rise over the course of pregnancy and are 5 times higher in pregnant people compared to outside of pregnancy, arguing for the placenta being one of the major sources of this protein during pregnancy. Results also show that low levels of circulating IGFBP1 in early pregnancy could predict who is likely to develop gestational diabetes in late second trimester of pregnancy. Finally, the team found that the trajectory of IGFBP1 levels across pregnancy differs in people who have a subtype of gestational diabetes characterized by insulin resistance previously shown more likely to develop pregnancy complications.
“Identifying a novel protein that characterizes a subtype of gestational diabetes is one additional step towards developing precision medicine for gestational diabetes,” adds Dr. Hivert. “It’s possible that measuring IGFBP1 in the first trimester could help identify people at risk of developing gestational diabetes early in pregnancy, potentially offering a window for prevention. We hope to conduct future research to address whether this protein plays a causal role in gestational glycemic regulation.”
About the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute’s Department of Population Medicine
The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute's Department of Population Medicine is a unique collaboration between Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Harvard Medical School. Created in 1992, it is the first appointing medical school department in the United States based in a health plan. The Institute focuses on improving health care delivery and population health through innovative research and education, in partnership with health plans, delivery systems, and public health agencies. Point32Health is the parent company of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
END
New study focuses on the placenta for clues to the development of gestational diabetes
2024-04-16
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Care home staff and residents need ‘family’ bonds to thrive
2024-04-16
University of Leeds news
Embargo: Tuesday 16 April, 2024, 10am UK time
Care home staff and residents need ‘family’ bonds to thrive
Care home residents receive much better care when they enjoy ‘family’ bonds with staff – but staff must be empowered to create these bonds, new research has found.
The study, led by the University of Leeds and funded by The National Institute for Health and Care Research, found that when care home staffing is stable and consistent and numbers are sufficient, workers have the capacity to develop ‘familial’ ...
New Inflammatory Bowel Disease testing protocol could speed up diagnosis
2024-04-16
Patients with suspected inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) could benefit from better testing protocols that would reduce the need and lengthy wait for potentially unnecessary colonoscopies, a new study has found.
In a paper published in Frontline Gastroenterology, researchers from the Birmingham NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at the University of Birmingham tested a new protocol to improve IBD diagnosis combining clinical history with multiple home stool tests.
In the two-year study involving 767 participants, patients were triaged and had repeated faecal calprotectin (FCP) tests and the research team found that the use of serial FCP tests were able to strongly predict possible ...
Most massive stellar black hole in our galaxy found
2024-04-16
Astronomers have identified the most massive stellar black hole yet discovered in the Milky Way galaxy. This black hole was spotted in data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission because it imposes an odd ‘wobbling’ motion on the companion star orbiting it. Data from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) and other ground-based observatories were used to verify the mass of the black hole, putting it at an impressive 33 times that of the Sun.
Stellar black holes are formed from the collapse of massive stars and the ones ...
New review offers first recommendations on accurately assessing the carbon footprint of coffee farming
2024-04-16
Tuesday 16 April: A new scientific review1 published in Sustainable Production and Consumption explores how best to standardize measurement of the environmental impact of coffee – a commodity increasingly threatened by climate change2.
Measurement of green coffee’s carbon footprint has traditionally varied, as is often the case for any agricultural lifecycle assessment. The Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) commissioned the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) to review current methodologies for green coffee, revealing a more precise picture of how to measure the environmental impact of the ...
Seed ferns: Plants experimented with complex leaf vein networks 201 million years ago
2024-04-16
According to a research team led by palaeontologists from the University of Vienna, the net-like leaf veining typical for today’s flowering plants developed much earlier than previously thought, but died out again several times. Using new methods, the fossilised plant Furcula granulifer was identified as such an early forerunner. The leaves of this seed fern species already exhibited the net-like veining in the late Triassic (around 201 million years ago). The study was recently published in the journal New Phytologist.
Mario Coiro and Leyla Seyfullah of the Department of Palaeontology at the University of ...
New statewide research reveals the staggering economic cost of intimate partner violence in Louisiana
2024-04-16
A new study conducted by Tulane University’s Newcomb Institute has uncovered the staggering economic toll of intimate partner violence experienced by women in Louisiana.
The report, titled "The Costs of Intimate Partner Violence in Louisiana," found that intimate partner violence cost the state $10.1 billion in medical expenses, lost productivity and criminal justice spending in 2022 alone.
The monetary costs per survivor amounted to approximately $105,602 annually, or 2.5 times more than the average wage earned by women in Louisiana.
This is the only cost analysis of its kind for a single U.S. state outside ...
From ashes to adversity: Lessons from South Australia's business recovery amidst bushfires and pandemic
2024-04-16
New research has given insight into the resilience and recovery of businesses in two South Australian regions following a major bushfire event and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Small businesses in two of the state’s regions affected by a devastating bushfire and a COVID-19 cluster outbreak have been analysed by economics experts at the University of South Australia to determine the best pathways for future disaster recovery in regional areas.
Like many SA regional areas heavily reliant on international tourists, Kangaroo ...
Multiple pollutants from crop and livestock production in the Yangtze River: status and challenges
2024-04-16
The rapid increase in the proportion of cash crops and livestock production in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) has led to commensurate increases in fertilizer and pesticide inputs. Excessive application of chemical fertilizer, organophosphorus pesticides and inappropriate disposal of agricultural waste induced water pollution and potentially threaten green agricultural development. To ensure food security and the food supply capacity of the Yangtze River Basin, it is important to balance green and development, while ensuring the quality of water bodies. Multiple pollutants affect the transfer, adsorption, photolysis and degradation of each other throughout the soil–plant–water system. ...
Unraveling the unique role of DELLA proteins in grapevine flowering: A shift in developmental fate
2024-04-16
The transition from vegetative to reproductive stages in plants involves both internal and external cues, with grapevines (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Pixie) presenting a unique case. Research shows that a mutation in the grapevine's DELLA proteins enhances the conversion of tendrils to inflorescences, diverging from DELLA's typical role in suppressing flowering in annual plants. While DELLA proteins regulate plant growth by interacting with various genes and environmental signals, the specific mechanisms and genes targeted ...
Next-generation treatments hitch a ride into cancer cells
2024-04-16
Osaka, Japan – Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are next-generation drugs that can treat disease by blocking the transfer of harmful messages from our genes. In people with cancer, ASOs have the potential to block messages that encourage the growth and spread of the tumor. However, ASOs aren’t used for treating cancer yet. They must first get delivered inside cancer cells, but the cancer cells won’t let them in.
Finding an effective ASO delivery system is a major challenge. Cancer cells have gatekeeper molecules that stop unwanted substances from entering. Although investigators have tried many ways of getting ASOs past ...