Proteomic and functional analysis identifies proteins related to embryonic development in decidua of patients with early recurrent miscarriage

Recurrent miscarriage (RM) is the occurrence of repeated pregnancies that end in miscarriage of the fetus before 20 weeks of gestation. Recurrent miscarriages affect about 1-2% of couples trying to conceive; however, mechanisms leading to this complication are largely unknown. Our previous studies using comparative proteomics identified 314 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in placental villous. In this study, we identified 5479 proteins from a total of 34157 peptides in decidua of patients with early recurrent miscarriage. Further analysis identified 311 DEPs in the decidua tissue; 159 proteins showed the increased expression while 152 proteins showed decreased expression. These 311 proteins were further analyzed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA). The results suggested that 50 DEPs could play important roles in the embryonic development. Furthermore, network analysis of the placental villous and decidua embryonic development DEPs was performed in STRING database to find the core gene. This study identifies several proteins that are specifically associated with embryonic development in decidua of patients with early recurrent miscarriage, these results provide new insights into potential biological mechanisms and may ultimately inform recurrent miscarriage.