Background: It is not known whether fasting affects levels of circulating placenta-specific transcripts.
Objective: To assess whether a glucose load affects circulating placenta-specific transcripts.
Method: RNA was extracted from paired blood samples (fasting and 1-h post 75 g oral glucose) from 22 women. Placenta-specific genes were measured by RT-qPCR.
Results: There was no change in ADM, CSH1, PAPPA2, PSG1 or TAC3 expression between fasting and post-glucose states. However, HTRA1 decreased after glucose load.
Conclusion: Maternal fasting state does not influence expression of the majority of placenta-specific genes but may need to be accounted for when validating biomarkers of placental disease.
Keywords: Biomarker; fasting; gene; pregnancy; transcription.