Microrna-148a Affects Functions Of Placental Trophoblast Cells In Preeclampsia By Regulating Hla-G

Preeclampsia (PE) is a leading cause of perinatal maternal-fetal mortality and morbidity, while the pathogenesis has not been completely understood and no fundamental therapeutics are available. Low expression of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-G in placentas is believed to be associated with PE; however, the mechanism underlying aberrant HLA-G expression has not been fully elucidated. microRNAs are negative regulators of gene expression by binding to 3'-UTR of mRNA for either degradation or translation repression. This study was performed to determine the functions of miR-148a in trophoblast cells and to discover its underlying role in the pathogenesis of PE. We found that miR-148a was decreased in placentas from PE and miR-148a positively regulated HLA-G at post-transcription level. To further investigate the functions of miR-148a, we tested the proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion abilities of HTR-8 cells after transferring miR-148a. In the miR-148a mimics group, the apoptosis of HTR-8 was decreased while the invasion was increased. Besides, we found that DNMT1 could down-regulate HLA-G. Considering that DNMT1 is the target gene of miR-148a, we confirm that miR-148a regulates the expression of HLA-G by DNMT1 and miR-148a may be a novel potential biomarker and therapeutic target for PE.