Placental expression of osteopontin(OPN) in monochorionic twins with discordant growth.

Shallow invasion could result in pathological processes of placenta leading to fetal growth restriction (FGR) in singletons and twins. Osteopontin (OPN) plays an important role in trophoblast invasion. So our study aims to investigate the expression level of OPN in placenta of discordant monochorionic (MC) twins. OPN expression was compared in the placental samples of 10 discordant MC twins and 12 concordant MC twins. OPN levels were evaluated using quantitative Real-time PCR and western blot. Our results showed that OPN expression at mRNA and protein level was significantly decreased in placenta (p < 0.05) of small fetuses in discordant MC twins. The expression level of OPN transcript strongly correlated with the territory of placenta.