The serine protease CAP1/Prss8 is crucial for skin barrier function, lung alveolar fluid clearance and has been unveiled as diagnostic marker for specific cancer types. Here, we show that a constitutive knockout of CAP1/Prss8 leads to embryonic lethality. ...
Successful pregnancy requires coordination of an array of signals and factors from multiple tissues. One such element, liver receptor homolog-1 (Lrh-1), is an orphan nuclear receptor that regulates metabolism and hormone synthesis(1). It is strongly expres ...
Populations of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a large DNA virus, are highly polymorphic in patient samples, which may allow for rapid evolution within human hosts. To understand HCMV evolution, longitudinally sampled genomic populations from the urine and p ...
Placental growth factor (PlGF) is a critical mediator of blood vessel formation, yet mechanisms of its action and regulation are incompletely understood. Here we demonstrate that proteolytic processing regulates the biological activity of PlGF. Specificall ...
Intrauterine infection and inflammation are major reasons for preterm birth. The switch from placenta-mediated to lung-mediated oxygen supply during birth is associated with a sudden rise of tissue oxygen tension that amounts to relative hyperoxia in prete ...
Prenatal heart valve interventions aiming at the early and systematic correction of congenital cardiac malformations represent a promising treatment option in maternal-fetal care. However, definite fetal valve replacements require growing implants adaptive ...
