Endocrine Abstracts

Growth in utero depends on adequate development and function of the fetal / maternal interface. During pregnancy, the insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), which are known to be critically involved in placental development, are controlled by a binding protein - IGFBP-1 - produced by maternal decidualised endometrium. We have recently found that decidua also produces a protease which cleaves IGFBP-1 into fragments that are unable to bind ligand. This study aimed to identif...