The predictive value of microRNA in early hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP)

To examine the predictive value of microRNA (miRNA) in hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP).

102 pregnant women with HDCP admitted to our hospital from March 2017 to June 2019 were recruited as the study cohort and randomly divided into an HDCP group, a mild preeclampsia group, and a severe preeclampsia group, with 34 patients in each group. In addition, 34 healthy pregnant women who underwent pregnancy tests in our hospital were recruited as the normal group. The relative expressions of plasma miR-19a, miR-126, and miRNA-210 in were measured. A Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlations between the miR-19a, miR-181b, and miRNA-210 expressions and the severity of HDCP. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of the miR-19a, miR-126, and miRNA-210 expressions.

The miR-19a and miRNA-210 expressions were higher in the HDCP group, the mild preeclampsia group, and the severe preeclampsia group than they were in the normal group, and the miR-126 expression was lower (all P<0.05). The miR-19a, miR-126, and miRNA-210 expressions were different among the four groups (P<0.05). The miR-19a and miRNA-210 expression levels in the severe preeclampsia group were higher than they were in the HDCP group, and the miR-126 expression was lower (P<0.05). A Pearson correlation analysis showed the miR-19a and miR-210 levels in the HDCP patients were positively correlated with the severity of the disease (P<0.05), and the miR-126 level is negatively correlated with disease severity (P<0.05). Our ROC curve analysis demonstrated that the miR-19a, miR-126, and miR-210 levels have a predictive value for HDCP. The areas under the curve were 0.800, 0.633, and 0.723, the sensitivities were 81.2%, 71.4%, and 80.2%, and the specificities were 73.5%, 67.5%, 81.5%. Additionally, the area under the curve of the combination of the three was 0.896, and the sensitivity and specificity were 90.5% and 93.9% respectively.

miR-19a, miR-126, and miR-210 are strongly connected to the severity of HDCP and can be used as a sensitive indicator to predict HDCP patients clinically.