Ping Zepeng, Ai Ling, Shen Huaxiang, Zhang Xing, Jiang Huling, Song Ye
Department of Obstetrics, Maternity and Child Health Care Affiliated Hospital, Jiaxing University, Jiaxing, China.
School of Biology & Basic Medical Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
PeerJ. 2021 Apr 20;9:e11299. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11299. eCollection 2021.
Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-specific syndrome, belongs to the gestational hypertension diseases category and is considered among the causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. However, the pathogenesis of PE is still vague.
In the present study, the circular RNA (circRNA) expression patterns of normal pregnant women and PE patients were investigated using whole RNA sequencing.
A total of 151 differential expressed circRNAs were identified including 121 upregulated and 30 downregulated ones. Functional and pathway enrichment analysis was conducted on the differentially expressed circRNAs using Gene Ontology and KEGG databases. The results of this analysis indicated that several crucial biological processes and pathways were enriched in PE patients. circRNA-microRNA (miRNA) interaction analysis indicated that the reported differentially expresse circRNAs may be associated with some regulatory functions through miRNAs in PE patients. Two ceRNAs networks were constructed according to the targeting relationship between circRNAs/miRNAs and miRNAs/mRNAs. One sub-network contained one upregulated circRNA, four downregulated miRNAs and five upregulated mRNAs, and another sub-network contained 10 downregulated circRNAs, 21 upregulated miRNAs and 15 downregulated mRNAs.
CircRNA expression patterns have been investigated and this analysis revealed their potential regulatory mechanisms in PE patients. We constructed the ceRNAs (competing endogenous RNA) to reveal the potential molecular roles of dysregulated circRNAs in the PE patients using RNA sequencing data. circRNA_13301 was the only one upregulated circRNA in ceRNA being targeted by four miRNAs.
子痫前期（PE）是一种妊娠特异性综合征，属于妊娠期高血压疾病范畴，被认为是孕产妇和围产儿死亡及发病的原因之一。然而，PE的发病机制仍不明确。
在本研究中，使用全RNA测序研究正常孕妇和PE患者的环状RNA（circRNA）表达模式。
共鉴定出151种差异表达的circRNA，其中121种上调，30种下调。使用基因本体论（Gene Ontology）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）数据库对差异表达的circRNA进行功能和通路富集分析。该分析结果表明，PE患者中富集了几个关键的生物学过程和通路。circRNA-微小RNA（miRNA）相互作用分析表明，报道的差异表达circRNA可能通过PE患者中的miRNA与一些调节功能相关。根据circRNAs/miRNAs和miRNAs/mRNAs之间的靶向关系构建了两个ceRNA网络。一个子网包含一个上调的circRNA、四个下调的miRNA和五个上调的mRNA，另一个子网包含10个下调的circRNA、21个上调的miRNA和15个下调的mRNA。
研究了circRNA表达模式，该分析揭示了它们在PE患者中的潜在调节机制。我们构建了ceRNAs（竞争性内源RNA），以利用RNA测序数据揭示PE患者中失调的circRNA的潜在分子作用。circRNA_13301是ceRNA中唯一上调的circRNA，被四个miRNA靶向。
