Screening of differential circRNAs in the placenta of patients with preeclampsia and their regulatory mechanism

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia (PE) is a common disease seriously threatens the health of the mother and fetus. Studies have shown that there are a large number of differentially expressed circular RNAs in PE compared with normal pregnant women, suggesting they may be involved in regulation of pathogenesis of PE and are valuable for early prediction of PE. This study intends to explore the screening and regulatory mechanism of differential circRNAs in the placenta of PE patients. METHODS: The placenta of patients undergoing cesarean section delivery in the obstetrics department of our hospital was selected, and total RNA was extracted. Through high-throughput sequencing, combined with bioinformatics, PE-specific circRNAs were screened, and it was speculated that they were related to the physiological function of the placenta in PE. RESULTS: Two thousand thirty-five circular RNA expression abundances were detected in the three groups of samples. Taking P<0.05 and the fold difference >1.5 times as the screening criteria for differential genes, 488 differentially expressed circular RNA molecules were obtained. G0 and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of differentially circRNA-derived genes indicated there were significant differences in ErbB signaling pathway, hypoxia-inducible factor-1 signaling pathway, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum, and ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. A total of 1214 circRNAs and 2649 miRNA were constructed a ceRNA regulatory networks in PE patients. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the normal pregnancy placenta, there are abnormally expressed circRNAs in the placenta of PE, and these abnormally expressed circRNAs may be involved in the pathogenesis of PE through certain pathways. (Cite this article as: Han ZY, Huang SJ, Wang R, Guan HQ. Screening of differential circRNAs in the placenta of patients with preeclampsia and their regulatory mechanism. Minerva Biotechnol Biomol Res 2023;35:30-40. DOI: 10.23736/S2724-542X.22.02913-3)