{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T04:48:18Z","timestamp":1787028498811,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,15]],"date-time":"2023-01-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1673740800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A better understanding of the pathogenesis of preterm birth (PTB) will allow us to lower the PTB rate, reducing perinatal morbidity and mortality. This article presents the hypothesis that premature placenta apoptosis could be a potential cause of PTB. We evaluated gene expression involved in apoptosis: caspase-3, caspase-8, and XIAP (X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis) in the placenta during pregnancy (n = 41), at the onset of preterm labour (n = 42), after preterm (n = 44) and term (n = 32) labour. We used RNA extraction, reverse transcription, and PCR. During pregnancy the gene expression of caspase-3 and caspase-8 is low, but XIAP is higher than the caspases. At the onset of preterm labour, we observed a significantly increased expression of both caspase-8 (10.7-fold, p &lt; 0.01) and caspase-3 (2.5-fold, p &lt; 0.01) and XIAP (3-fold; p &lt; 0.05) compared with expression during pregnancy. Our study showed that during pregnancy, the expression of caspase genes in the placenta is low and probably controlled by high XIAP expression. At the onset of preterm labour, the expression of caspase genes increases sharply. This may initiate the onset of preterm labour.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms24021692","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,16]],"date-time":"2023-01-16T02:29:55Z","timestamp":1673836195000},"page":"1692","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Caspase-3, Caspase-8 and XIAP Gene Expression in the Placenta: Exploring the Causes of Spontaneous Preterm Labour"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"24","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8332-7073","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vera","family":"Belousova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119435 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oxana","family":"Svitich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119435 Moscow, Russia"},{"name":"Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution \u00abI. Mechnikov Research Institute of Vaccines and Sera\u00bb, 105064 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6628-0023","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena","family":"Timokhina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119435 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Irina","family":"Ignatko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119435 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Irina","family":"Bogomazova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119435 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Svetlana","family":"Pesegova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119435 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tatiana","family":"Silaeva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119435 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tatiana","family":"Kuzmina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119435 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oxana","family":"Skorobogatova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), 119435 Moscow, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"387","DOI":"10.1053\/j.semperi.2017.07.009","article-title":"Epidemiology of preterm birth","volume":"41","author":"Purisch","year":"2017","journal-title":"Semin. Perinatol."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"(2020, January 31). Federal State Statistics Service, Available online: https:\/\/eng.rosstat.gov.ru\/."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1111\/ppe.12537","article-title":"Towards a unified perinatal theory: Reconciling the births-based and fetus-at-risk models of perinatal mortality","volume":"33","author":"Joseph","year":"2019","journal-title":"Paediatr. P\u00e9rinat. Epidemiol."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Lockwood, C.J. (2022, December 06). 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