Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a serious pregnancy complication. It has been shown that insufficient infiltration of extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs) is related to the pathogenesis of PE. Circular hsa_circ_0001326 (circ_0001326) has been uncovered to be upregulated in PE. However, the influence of circ_0001326 on the infiltration of trophoblasts is indistinct.
Methods: 48 pregnant women (25 PE patients and 23 healthy controls) were recruited for this study. Human trophoblasts HTR-8/Svneo were used for function analysis. Expression of circ_0001326 was evaluated by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The diagnostic value of circ_0001326 was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of HTR-8/Svneo cells were determined using 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT), 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU), wound-healing, and transwell assays. Protein levels were detected using Western blotting. The regulation mechanism of circ_0001326 was surveyed by bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay.
Results: Circ_0001326 was highly expressed in plasma samples and placental tissues of PE patients. Moreover, plasma circ_0001326 could distinguish PE patients from healthy controls (area under the curve (AUC) =0.793). Functionally, circ_0001326 overexpression repressed HTR-8/Svneo cell proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), migration, and invasion, but circ_0001326 silencing had the opposing impact. Mechanically, circ_0001326 regulated interleukin-16 (IL16) expression via sponging microRNA (miR)-558. MiR-558 mimic or IL16 knockdown overturned the inhibiting effect of circ_0001326 overexpression on HTR-8/Svneo cell proliferation, EMT, migration, and invasion.
Conclusion: Circ_0001326 elevated IL16 expression via sponging miR-558, thus curbing HTR-8/Svneo cell proliferation, EMT, migration, and invasion, suggesting that circ_0001326 might be involved in the pathogenesis of PE.
Keywords: HTR-8/Svneo; IL16; circ_0001326; miR-558; preeclampsia.
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.