Placenta
Volume 31, Issue 10 , Page 941, October 2010

Localisation of ABCA1 in First Trimester and Term Placental Tissues – A Reply

Department of Physiology, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro, 53100 Siena, Italy

published online 12 August 2010.

Article Outline

 

Dear Editors,

With great interest we have read the letter by Albrecht et al. [1] to the Editor in ‘Placenta’ on localisation of ABCA1 in first trimester and term placental tissues criticising our recently published article [2]. We find that the letter was beyond the scope of our article [2] as the authors described the localisation of ABCA1 in decidual cells and endometrial glands whereas ours’ [2] was on placenta tissues. Their findings on ABCA1 [1] in decidual cells and glands is therefore an additional information and, in our opinion, it should not be identified as a controversy in the light of scope and objectives of our work [2]. On the other hand, it seems that the authors contradict their own findings [3], as localisation data were lacking cytotrophoblast cell’s ABCA1 expression [3], the authors, in fact, reported ABCA1 localisation only in syncytium in the article Ref. [3]. Unlike the previously published article of Albrecht et al. [3], we indeed showed positivity for ABCA1 in most of the cytotrophoblast cells while only in few syncytiotrophoblast cells [2].

Albrecht et al. [1] also showed ABCA1 in possible Hofbauer cells in the villous stroma, while Bhattacharjee et al. [2] and Ietta et al. [4] reported this staining in the stromal cells, indeed without cell specific markers, it is difficult to conclude definitively.

According to our interpretation, there is no controversy about ABCA1 localisation between our’s [2] and Albrecht et al’s [1] data. We agree that the localisation of ABCA1 in endometrial tissues and in placenta would help to explore further the functional role of ABCA1 in maternal-fetal exchange of nutrient and metabolites.

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Disclosures 

No conflicts of interest are declared by the authors.

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References 

  1. Albrecht C, Nikitina L, Wenger F, Baumann M, Surbek D, Körner M. Localisation of ABCA1 in first trimester and term placental tissues. Placenta. 2010;31(8):741–742
  2. Bhattacharjee J, Ietta F, Giacomello E, Bechi N, Romagnoli R, Fava A, et al. Expression and localization of ATP binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) in first trimester and term human placenta. Placenta. 2010;31:423–430
  3. Albrecht C, Soumian S, Tetlow N, Patel P, Sullivan MH, Lakasing L, et al. Placental ABCA1 expression is reduced in primary antiphospholipid syndrome compared to pre-eclampsia and controls. Placenta. 2007;28:701–708
  4. Ietta F, Bechi N, Romagnoli R, Bhattacharjee J, Realacci M, Di Vito M, et al. 17{beta}-Estradiol modulates the macrophage migration inhibitory factor secretory pathway by regulating ABCA1 expression in human first-trimester placenta. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2010;298:E411–E418

PII: S0143-4004(10)00276-6

doi:10.1016/j.placenta.2010.07.007

Refers to article:

  • Localisation of ABCA1 in First Trimester and Term Placental Tissues , 28 June 2010

    C. Albrecht, L. Nikitina, F. Wenger, M. Baumann, D. Surbek, M. Körner
    Placenta August 2010 (Vol. 31, Issue 8, Pages 741-742)

Placenta
Volume 31, Issue 10 , Page 941, October 2010

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