Cellular Studies Using Products of Conception (CSPOC)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
BIOCHEMICAL AND FUNCTIONAL STUDIES USING CELLS ISOLATED FROM THE FETAL/MATERNAL INTERFACE.
IRAS ID
285005
Contact name
Alexander Frick
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St Georges, University Hospitals NS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
MR/M02184X/1 , Medical Research Council; 12729-52, St George’s University of London; FS/17/72/33181, British Heart Foundation
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
The placenta acts as the baby’s lungs, stomach and kidneys while in the womb, taking the food and oxygen directly from the mother’s blood. As the baby grows their need for both nutrients and oxygen increases. Babies that are born smaller are more likely to suffer ill-health throughout life. Two processes control placental growth and therefore growth of the baby. The first is how well cells of the placenta invade into the uterus and interact with the maternal arteries supplying blood to the womb. The second is how efficiently nutrients and oxygen supplied by the mother can be taken up by the placenta and can be transported to the baby. This is dependent on the blood vessels that develop within the placenta as the baby grows. Both fetal growth restriction (FGR) and preeclampsia (PE), are associated with defects in both these processes. Therefore, increased understanding of what goes wrong may help both diagnosis and treatment of these distressing conditions.
Many of these crucial events in pregnancy occur before the end of the second trimester. As samples cannot be obtained from women with ongoing pregnancies we plan to obtain placental and decidual tissue samples from healthy women who are undergoing routine surgical termination of pregnancy. Uterine artery Doppler ultrasound is a technique that can identify pregnancies more likely to result in small babies. Using this technique and covered by our previous ethical approval, we have demonstrated significant differences in the behaviour of cells involved in placental development. Over 5 years, women will be approached during a visit to the Pregnancy Advisory Service at St. George’s University Hospital. Their participation will not affect their clinical care in any way and cells derived from the samples will be used to better understand the development of the placenta in early pregnancy.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/EM/0246
Date of REC Opinion
3 Dec 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion