The Effect of Cigarette Smoke Extract on Trophoblast Cell Viability and Migration: The Role of Adrenomedullin

We tested the hypothesis that cigarette smoke extract (CSE) leads to differences in expression of genes involved in angiogenesis and affects cell viability and migration in a first-trimester cytotrophoblast cell line (HTR-8/SVneo). HTR-8/SVneo cells were treated with 1% CSE, and gene expression for adrenomedullin (ADM), placental growth factor (PIGF), soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase I (sFLT-1), and vascular endothelia growth factor (VEGF) and protein content for ADM, PIGF, and sFlt-1 determined. A cell viability assay and a cell migration scratch assay were utilized following treatment with CSE with and without ADM inhibitor. Adrenomedullin, PIGF, and VEGF gene transcripts were significantly upregulated by 1% CSE treatment compared with unstimulated cells or cells treated with nicotine alone. Neither 1% CSE nor nicotine treatment alone affected sFlt-1 gene expression. There was a significant increase in secreted ADM protein from cells treated with 1% CSE detected by enzyme-linked immuno-sorbant assay, though no differences in PIGF or sFIt-1 production were seen. Treatment with 1 % CSE increased cell viability and cell migration compared with unstimulated cells and was inhibited by co-treatment with ADM inhibitor. Treatment of a first-trimester trophoblast cell line with CSE increases cell viability and cell migration that are reversed by co-treatment with ADM inhibitor, suggesting that ADM at least partially mediates cell growth and viability following CSE treatment.