Detection of alternatively spliced transcripts of human leukocyte antigen-g in single human preimplantation blastocysts using nested RT-PCR

Abstract

Objective: Human leukocyte antigen G (HLA-G) is a virtually nonpolymorphic HLA class I gene expressed by extravillous cytotrophoblast, which is believed to play a key role in maternal immune tolerance of the fetus. HLA-G mRNA can be alternatively spliced into 6 transcripts, which encode 4 membrane isoforms (G1, G2, G3, G4) and 2 soluble isoforms (G5 and G6). HLA-G is expressed by some human pre-implantation embryos and the levels of soluble HLA-G secreted may relate to implantation success (1). However, which of the mRNA isoforms are expressed and in what proportion of embryos they are found is unknown.