Villitis of Unknown Etiology (VUE): Unravelling Placental Dysfunction and Causes of Stillbirth and Fetal Growth Restriction

Abstract

Many researchers in the academic and clinical communities theorise that inflammation may underpin the placental dysfunction to which the majority of fetal growth restriction (FGR) and stillbirth cases are attributed. Villitis of unknown etiology (VUE) is an inflammatory condition of the placenta characterised by lesions of macrophages and T cells in the villous stroma.This study addressed the hypothesis that VUE is a maternal-mediated immune reaction that contributes to FGR and stillbirth by detrimentally affecting placental function. The hypothesis was tested by: 1) completing a systematic review of the literature to confirm implied links of VUE to poor pregnancy outcome, 2) performing a detailed characterisation of the cellular phenotype of VUE in stillbirth, 3) developing an in vitro model of VUE and 4) examining the functional effects of VUE using this model.A systematic review of the literature revealed that VUE occurred in 28.6% of placentas from FGR pregnancies compared to 15.6% of placentas from appropriately grown infants (p

Date of Award	1 Aug 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Alexander Heazell (Supervisor), Susan Greenwood (Supervisor) & Rebecca Jones (Supervisor)