Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2025
Author Spotlight: Modeling an Aspect of Preeclampsia in Female Mice Using Hypoxic Human Placenta-Derived Small Extracellular Vesicles
Published on: January 26, 2024
Elevated Placental microRNA-155 Is a Biomarker of a Preeclamptic Subtype
Zhiyin Wang1, Dan Liu1, Yimin Dai1
1From the Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University Medical School, China (Z.W., D.L., Y.D., G.Z., Z.D., C.C., H.L., N.G., H.Z., H.D., J.L., X.Z., H.D., L.S., Q.Z., J.C., H.H., M.Z., Y.H.).
Background:
Preeclampsia is a complicated syndrome with marked heterogeneity. The biomarker-based classification for this syndrome is more constructive to the targeted prevention and treatment of preeclampsia. It has been reported that preeclamptic patients had elevated microRNA-155 (miR-155) in placentas or circulation. Here, we investigated the characteristics of patients with high placental miR-155 (pl-miR-155).
Methods:
Based on the 95th percentile (P95) of pl-miR-155 in controls, preeclamptic patients were divided into high miR-155 group (≥P95) and normal miR-155 group (
Results:
About one-third of preeclamptic patients had high pl-miR-155 expression, which was positively correlated with circulating miR-155 levels. These patients could be clustered as 1 group, according to clinical manifestation, placental pathology, or transcriptomes by t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding and hierarchical clustering analysis. Further, the pregnant mice with placental restricted miR-155 overexpression could simulate the changes of clinical signs, pathology, and transcriptome of placentas in patients with high pl-miR-155. AntagomiR-155 treatment relieved the preeclampsia-like phenotype and improved the placental vascular development in mice.
Conclusions:
There is at least 1 type of preeclampsia with upregulated miR-155 presenting more severe clinical manifestations. MiR-155 may be a potential therapeutic target in patients with high pl-miR-155.
