ReviewBiology of sex differences2022
Sex at the interface: the origin and impact of sex differences in the developing human placenta.
Review in Biology of sex differences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis examining fetal sex-specific placental DNA methylation intensities and estimated cell composition post IVF.Molecular human reproduction · 2025Pooled it
- Progesterone for Neurodevelopment in Fetuses With Congenital Heart Defects: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Review
- IGF-1Eb Isoform Immunoreactivity May Be Associated with Placental Dysfunction and Vascular Pathology in Fetal Growth Restriction (FGR).Biomolecules · 2026Article
- Transcriptomic Profiling of SLC and ABC Transporters in the Human Term Placenta.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2026Article
- Birth Weight, Adult Fat Distribution, and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Risk: Sex-Specific Study in a Large Prospective Cohort.Diabetes & metabolism journal · 2026Article
- Article
- Sexual Dimorphism in Placental mTORC1 Signaling, Amino Acid Transport, and Mitochondrial Respiration at Term.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Maternal High Fat Diet and Acute Viral Mimic Exposure Impact Placental Inflammation, Lipid Peroxidation and Cellular Proliferation-to-Death Ratio Across Mouse Pregnancy.American journal of reproductive immunology (New York, N.Y. : 1989) · 2026Article
- Sex-specific outcomes following chorioamnionitis.Pediatric research · 2026Review
- HK1-LDHA axis feedback regulation promotes histone lactylation of Wnt5a and mediates prenatal acetaminophen-induced susceptibility to osteoarthritis in male offspring.Experimental & molecular medicine · 2026Article
- Associations between prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure and fetal growth measurements in utero and at birth in the LIFECODES cohort: 2006-2019.Environmental research · 2026Article
- DNA methylation in the placenta and household socioeconomic status: the SPAH study.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Article
- Elucidating the roles of microRNA-103a-3p in trophoblast invasion and SOX4-mediated extravillous differentiation induced by activin A.Cell death & disease · 2026Article
- Serpina3c protects against metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in offspring induced by prenatal prednisone exposure.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Article
- Associations between prenatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and repeated measures of bioactive lipids during pregnancy in the LIFECODES cohort.The Science of the total environment · 2026Article
- Sex differences in human umbilical vein endothelial cells following ox-LDL injury.Biology of sex differences · 2026Article
- Sex-Specific Variation in Maternal Serum Screening Markers Across the First and Second Trimesters: Evidence from 10,384 Screened Pregnancies.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Impact of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Cerebral Cortex Development.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The fetal placenta is a source of hormones and immune factors that play a vital role in maintaining pregnancy and facilitating fetal growth. Cells in this extraembryonic compartment match the chromosomal sex of the embryo itself. Sex differences have been observed in common gestational pathologies, highlighting the importance of maternal immune tolerance to the fetal compartment. Over the past decade, several studies examining placentas from term pregnancies have revealed widespread sex differences in hormone signaling, immune signaling, and metabolic functions. Given the rapid and dynamic development of the human placenta, sex differences that exist at term (37-42 weeks gestation) are unlikely to align precisely with those present at earlier stages when the fetal-maternal interface is being formed and the foundations of a healthy or diseased pregnancy are established. While fetal sex as a variable is often left unreported in studies performing transcriptomic profiling of the first-trimester human placenta, four recent studies have specifically examined fetal sex in early human placental development. In this review, we discuss the findings from these publications and consider the evidence for the genetic, hormonal, and immune mechanisms that are theorized to account for sex differences in early human placenta. We also highlight the cellular and molecular processes that are most likely to be impacted by fetal sex and the evolutionary pressures that may have given rise to these differences. With growing recognition of the fetal origins of health and disease, it is important to shed light on sex differences in early prenatal development, as these observations may unlock insight into the foundations of sex-biased pathologies that emerge later in life.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.