Expression of Caveolin-1 in Normal and Pathological Human Pregnancy: A Narrative Review

Objective: The presence of caveolin-1(cav1) has been known for years. The aim of this narrative review was to investigate the expression of cav1 in normal and pathological pregnancy.Method: This review was carried out by two authors from the databases including PubMed and web of science. This review included all published studies about the role of cav1 in pregnancy-related diseases, including miscarriage of unknown cause, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and pregnancy in women with high body mass index (BMI).Results: The review showed that there were difference between the expression of cav1 of normal pregnancy and that of patholog-ical pregnancy. The expression of cav1 is down-regulated in placenta of the group with unexplained spontaneous miscarriage in comparison with normal pregnancy. The level of cav1 in preeclampsia cases are lower than that of women in normal pregnancy. The expression of cav1 protein and mRNA in placenta of macrosomia induced by GDM was down-regulated and rats fed with HFHC had a decreased uterine expression of cav1 in the stage of labor.Conclusions: It can therefore be concluded that the caveolin-1 gene may be a potential susceptibility gene in pathological preg-nancy.