TY - JOUR T1 - MicroRNA-29 Differentially Mediates Preeclampsia-Dysregulated Cellular Responses to Cytokines in Female and Male Fetal Endothelial Cells JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2023.03.17.532827 SP - 2023.03.17.532827 AU - Chi Zhou AU - Colman Freel AU - Olivia Mills AU - Xin-Ran Yang AU - Qin Yan AU - Jing Zheng Y1 - 2023/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/03/21/2023.03.17.532827.abstract N2 - Introduction Preeclampsia (PE) differentially impairs female and male fetal endothelial cell function which is associated with the increased risks of adult-onset cardiovascular disorders in children born to mothers with PE. However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly defined. We hypothesize that dysregulation of microRNA-29a-3p and 29c-3p (miR-29a/c-3p) in PE disturbs gene expression and cellular responses to cytokines in fetal endothelial cells in a fetal sex-dependent manner.Methods RT-qPCR analysis of miR-29a/c-3p was performed on female and male unpassaged (P0) human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) from normotensive (NT) and PE pregnancies. Bioinformatic analysis of an RNAseq dataset was performed to identify PE-dysregulated miR-29a/c-3p target genes in female and male P0-HUVECs. Gain- and loss-of-function assays were conducted to determine the effects of miR-29a/c-3p on endothelial monolayer integrity and proliferation in response to TGFβ1 and TNFα in NT and PE HUVECs at passage 1.Results PE downregulated miR-29a/c-3p in male, but not female P0-HUVECs. PE dysregulated significantly more miR-29a/c-3p target genes in female vs. male P0-HUVECs. Many of these PE-differentially dysregulated miR-29a/c-3p target genes are associated with critical cardiovascular diseases and endothelial functions. We further demonstrated that miR-29a/c-3p knockdown specifically recovered the PE-abolished TGFβ1-induced strengthening of endothelial monolayer integrity in female HUVECs, while miR-29a/c-3p overexpression specifically enhanced the TNFα-promoted cell proliferation in male PE HUVECs.Conclusions PE differentially dysregulates miR-29a/c-3p and their target genes associated with cardiovascular diseases- and endothelial function in female and male fetal endothelial cells, possibly contributing to the fetal sex-specific endothelial dysfunction observed in PE.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.(PE)Preeclampsia(NT)Normotensive(F)Female(M)Male(DE)Differentially expressed ER -