Differential expression of circulating miRNAs in maternal plasma in pregnancies with fetal macrosomia

Macrosomia is associated with problems at birth and has life-long health implications for the infant. The aim of this study was to profile the plasma microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) and evaluate the potential of circulating miRNAs to predict fetal macrosomia. The expression levels of miRNAs in plasma samples obtained from pregnant women with fetal macrosomia and from women with normal pregnancies (controls) were analyzed using TaqMan Low-Density Arrays (TLDAs) followed by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) validation and analysis. The TLDA data revealed that 143 miRNAs were differentially expressed in the plasma samples from pregnant women with fetal macrosomia compared with the controls (43 upregulated and 100 downregulated miRNAs). Twelve of these miRNAs were selected for RT-qPCR analysis. Receiver operational characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that several miRNAs (e.g., miR‑141-3p and miR-200c-3p) were clearly distinguished between pregnancies with fetal macrosomia and other types of abnormal pregnancy and healthy pregnancies with high sensitivity and specificity (AUC >0.9). The expression of miRNA clusters also showed a similar trend in pregnancies with fetal macrosomia. This study provides a platform for profiling circulating miRNAs in maternal plasma. Our data also suggest that altered levels of maternal plasma miRNAs have great potential to serve as non-invasive biomarkers and as a mechanistic indicator of abnormal pregnancies.