The effects of saquinavir and nelfinavir were evaluated on human trophoblast functions and integrity by investigating their effect on human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) secretion and on P-gp expression and functionality.
Nelfinavir significantly reduced hCG secretion by 30 % after a 48-h treatment but it had no effect on syncytia formation. Saquinavir had no effect on hCG secretion but significantly increased both expression (to a 2-fold extent) and functionality (by 17.9 % ) of P-gp, whereas nelfinavir only increased functionality (by 23.1 % ) with a dissociation of P-gp from caveolin-1.
These results suggest that the effects of saquinavir and nelfinavir differ on trophoblast functions.