Regulation of Expression of Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor by Progesterone in BeWo Choriocarcinoma Cells

Neelima P. Sidharthan and Addi

Abstract

Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor is a multifunctional protein with a variety of activities attributed to it. A significant increase in the expression of Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor was noticed in syncytiotrophoblasts following differentiation of cytotrophoblasts in to syncytiotrophoblasts by addition of Forskolin. Using the BeWo cells which are derived from choriocarcinoma, the effect of addition of progesterone and estradiol on the expression of Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor by Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction was assessed. It was found that while addition of low concentration of progesterone resulted in a significant increase in expression of Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor, addition of estradiol even at high concentration had no effect. The specificity of effect of progesterone was established by the observation that addition of Progesterone along with progesterone receptor antagonist (RU484) resulted in decrease in the level of expression of Secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor. These results suggest that Secretory protease leukocyte protease inhibitor is a progesterone regulated gene.