Nicotine's Effect on Cancer Stem Cell Markers in Human Umbilical Cord Tissue

Investigation of Nicotine in Umbilical Cord Tissue: Immunohistochemical and Biochemical Analysis of Cancer Stem Cell Markers

The umbilical cord is generally an organ that clinicians and pathologists do not pay sufficient attention to. The absence of significant pathology in the umbilical cords, along with the lack of association between certain placental pathologies and perinatal mortality and morbidity, have led both clinicians and pathologists to inadequately evaluate the placenta and umbilical cord. In our study, İnvestigators aimed to perform immunohistochemical and biochemical analysis by comparing two groups, one consisting of women who smoked throughout their pregnancy and the other of those who never smoked, including different markers in accordance with the literature.

Method: The pregnant women included in the study were categorized according to their smoking status as follows:

Group I: Non-smokers (smoking -) Group II: Smokers (smoking +) during pre-pregnancy and throughout the pregnancy In this study, 40 pregnant women who smoked during their pregnancy (between 37 and 42 weeks of gestation) and 37 age- and parity-matched healthy non-smoking pregnant women with full-term births between 37 and 42 weeks of gestation were selected as the control group. Umbilical cord samples (2 ml of blood and a 5 cm tissue sample) were collected from both groups without delay and fixed in 10% formalin. The tissue samples were processed for histological analysis with routine hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining following fixation in 10% formalin solution and routine paraffin embedding.

İnvestigators aimed to examine the presence of oncological factors such as CD44, CD34, CD90, and ALDH molecules in the umbilical cord tissue of smokers during pregnancy through immunohistochemistry, and to explore the biochemical relationship of these molecules with their counterparts, CD34, CD44, CD90, and ALDH, found in the umbilical cord blood.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy pregnancy under 37 weeks
• Age range 18-50
• Being literate in Turkish
• Not having any additional disease
• Agreeing to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• High-risk pregnancies (gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome, chronic hypertension, gestational and pregestational diabetes, cholestasis, intrauterine growth retardation, etc.)
• Multiple pregnancy
• Pregnant women under the age of 18
• Smoking
• Medication use (excluding routinely used food supplements during pregnancy)
• Additional disease (thyroid, renal failure, liver failure, hepatitis, heart disease, connective tissue disease, etc.)
• Immunosuppressive use
• Presence of active or chronic infection
• Presence of active or chronic inflammatory disease
• Patients who gave birth at an external center or later chose to withdraw from the study
• Patients who did not have any exclusion criteria at the time of smokers or when blood was drawn for the control group, but who later developed any exclusion criteria.
• Premature birth of patients included in the control group