Sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate prevents hypoxic trophoblast-induced endothelial cell dysfunction via targeting HMGB1 release.

Preeclampsia (PE) is a serious blood pressure disorder of pregnancy. Systemic endothelial cell dysfunction, a hallmark of PE, is previously estimated to be induced by hypoxic trophoblast high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1). In the present study, we investigated the protective effect of sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate (STS), the soluble form of tanshinone IIA isolated from danshen, against hypoxic trophoblast HMGB1-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) dysfunction. Our results showed that HMGB1 expression and release were significantly decreased in STS-treated hypoxic JEG-3 cells. A further study revealed hypoxic trophoblast HMGB1-induced cytotoxicity and leukostasis of HUVEC as well as higher expression of cell adhesion molecules (VCAM-1 and ICAM-1) could be reversed by pretreatment with STS. In conclusion, our study suggests that STS is an effective agent against hypoxic trophoblast-induced cell injury of HUVEC via targeting HMGB1 release and forms the basis of the development of such a compound in treating PE.