Human Biobank

Successful fetal development and delivery require a variety of maternal adaptive mechanisms and the adequate development of the placenta, to sustain a second organism by means of nutrient and oxygenation supply. This entails physiological changes in most maternal organs, which are guided by hormonal signals coming for example from the placenta. In pregnancies affected by complications, e.g. of unknown aetiology. Failures in the maternal immune adaptation to the semi-allogenic feto-placental unit may play a role. Untimely or exacerbated immune responses may hinder trophoblast invasion or lead to premature labour, and result in clinically tangible pregnancy complications.

Termination of pregnancy is subjected to mechanical processes, leaded by the induction of uterine contractions in labour. Labour is actually influenced by immunological and endocrine factors, although the precise mechanisms are still incompletely understood.

In this context, not only pregnancy-associated maladaptations can result in complications or pathologies, but also pre-existing maternal immun and endocrine conditions may also interfere with the healthy progression of pregnancy.

To date, basic science-based and practice-relevant translational insights into these complex maternal adaptation mechanisms require further empirical evaluation. The current human biobank serves to evaluate biomaterials from the aforementioned compartments: Placenta, Uterine Tissue, Maternal and Fetal blood. We aim to evaluate the crosstalk of endocrine-immune factors in healthy pregnancy and birth. These findings may help to understand and treat pathological pregnancies from an endocrine-immunological perspective.