miR-548az-5p induces amniotic epithelial cell senescence by regulating KATNAL1 expression in labor

Amniotic fluid exosomes (AF-Exos) from term labor (TL) cause amniotic membrane senescence and induce labor. However, the intrinsic mechanism through which this occurs remains unknown. Therefore, we performed microRNA (miRNA) microarray chip screening of AF-Exos obtained from TL and terms not in labor and discovered that the expression of miR-548az-5p was significantly upregulated in TL. This study aimed to explore the role of miR-548az-5p in AF-Exos-induced human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) senescence for labor initiation. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that Katanin catalytic subunit A1 like 1 (KATNAL1) is a potential miR-548az-5p target. In hAECs, the upregulation of miR-548az-5p suppressed KATNAL1 expression, disorganized microtubules, increased senescence-associated secretory phenotype-related biomarkers, and inhibited cell proliferation by cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6). This study identified that miR-548az-5p is involved in the senescence of amniotic epithelial cells by targeting KATNAL1 to induce labor. Notably, this study offers new perspectives on the mediation of cellular senescence using AF-Exos miRNAs, which results in labor.