Fig 2: Protein expression changes in ABC transporters in placental tissues. (A) ABCG1 and (B) ABCG2 expression visualized by immunoblotting in placentae from (a) first trimester and term controls (n = 6 and n = 5, respectively, Swiss cohort) and (b) EMC patients and term controls (n = 20 and n = 19, respectively) was quantified by fluorescence detection analysis and normalized to ß-actin as loading control. Results of representative immunoblots for ABCG1 and ABCG2 are shown. Reduced ABCG1 and increased ABCG2 protein levels were observed in EMC patients. Statistical analysis was performed by using two-tailed Mann–Whitney test for comparing first trimester vs. term controls (a) and EMC vs. term controls (b); ‡: p = 0.001, †: p = 0.01).

Fig 3: qRT-PCR analysis of ABC transporters. mRNA expression of selected ABC transporters was measured in placentae from (A) first trimester and term controls (n = 6 and n = 5, respectively; Swiss cohort) and (B) EMC patients and term controls (n = 20 and n = 19, respectively). mRNA abundances of (a) ABCA1, (b) ABCG1, and (c) ABCG2 are presented as 2-?CT (?CT= CT value of target gene—CT value of the mean of reference genes ß-actin, GAPDH, YWHAZ, B2MG, L19, hTBP, and hsUBQ). Data are presented as mean (x), median (-), and Tukey box and whiskers (1.5 times interquartile range). ABCG1 was significantly lower, whereas ABCG2 mRNA expression increased in ECM. Statistical significance was evaluated by using two-tailed Mann–Whitney test for comparing first trimester vs. term controls (Swiss cohort) (A) and EMC vs. term controls (B); † (p = 0.01), * (p = 0.05). Abbreviations: ß-actin, beta-actin; GAPDH, Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; YWHAZ, 14-3-3 protein zeta/delta; B2MG, beta-2 microglobulin; L19 (RPL19), ribosomal protein L19; TBP, TATA-box-binding protein; UBC, ubiquitin.