Microrna analysis of human decidua mesenchymal stromal cells from preeclampsia patients

Abstract

Introduction: In preeclampsia (PE), human decidua mesenchymal stromal cells (hDMSCs) are exposed toabnormally high levels of oxidative stress and inflammatory factors circulating in the maternal blood. MicroRNAs(miRNAs) have been shown to have a significant impact on the differentiation, maturation and function ofmesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Our aim in the present study is firstly to investigate differentially expressedmiRNA levels to be used as a biomarker in the early detection of PE and secondly to investigate whether thosedifferentially expressed miRNAs in hDMSCs have an effect on the pathogenesis of PE.Methods: This study covers miRNA expression analysis of hDMSCs from 7 PE patient and 7 healthy pregnantwomen and is a preliminary study to investigate putative biomarkers. After cell culture and cell sorting, totalRNA including miRNAs were isolated from hDMSCs. Let-7b-3p, let-7f-1-3p, miR-191–3p, miR-550a-5p, miR-33b-3p and miR-425–3p were used for miRNA analysis and U6 snRNA was used for normalization of the samples.MiRNA analysis was performed by droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) method and obtainedresults were evaluated statistically.Results: As a result of the analysis, it was observed that the levels of hsa-miR-33b-3p significantly (AUC: 0.93, p =0.04, fold change: 4.5) increased in hDMSC of PE patients compared to healthy controls. However, let-7b-3p, let-7f-1-3p, miR-191–3p, miR-550a-5p, and miR-425–3p were not considered as significant because they did notmeet the p < 0,05 requirement.Discussion: Within the scope of the study, it is predicted that miR-33b-3p (p = 0.004, AUC = 0.93) can be used asa biomarker in detecting PE.