When compared to age-matched appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants, expression of PHLDA2 (p = 0.03) IGF2R (p < 0.05) was upregulated in IUGR infants.
The results suggest that placental PHLDA2 may provide a biomarker for suboptimal skeletal growth in pregnancies uncomplicated by overt fetal growth restriction.
Nine of the 52 (17%) expressed genes were significantly differentially expressed between normal and IUGR placentas; five were upregulated (PHLDA2, ILK2, NNAT, CCDC86, PEG10) and four downregulated (PLAGL1, DHCR24, ZNF331, CDKAL1).
In this series six imprinted genes were differentially expressed by ANOVA with a Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate of 0.05, with increased expression of PHLDA2 and decreased expression of MEST, MEG3, GATM, GNAS and PLAGL1 in IUGR placentae.