Correlation and predictive value of serum miR-146b-5p expression during the first trimester of pregnancy with pre-eclampsia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation and predictive value of serum miR-146b-5p expression during the first trimester of pregnancy with pre-eclampsia (PE). In total, 32 normal pregnant women (the control group) and 58 subjects with PE were randomly selected from eligible case data. The serum levels of miR-146b-5p, pregnancy associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and free beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (free β-hCG) were then detected. Next, we established predictive models of single or multiple markers for PE. The levels of miR-146b-5p in the mild pre-eclampsia (mPE) and severe pre-eclampsia (sPE) groups were higher than the control group and there were significant differences between the three groups (F = 3.424, P = 0.037). The statistical results of the model before and after 200 times 10-fold cross-validation were as follows: miR-146b-5p (AUC = 0.723 vs AUC = 0.710); miR-146b-5p + BMI + MAP + free β-hCG MoM + PAPP-A MoM (AUC = 0.929 vs AUC = 0.851). We found that expression levels of miR-146b-5p in the first trimester were significantly higher in the serum of pregnant women with PE than in the normal pregnancy group. A prediction model in combination with miR-146b-5p and other markers improved the early predictive value for PE.

IMPACT STATEMENT

• What is already known on this subject? Pre-eclampsia is a complex systemic disease with hypertension as the main clinical manifestation and causes extensive damage to the body. Some existing maternal biochemical markers have limited value in predicting PE, and new biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity are urgently needed in clinical practice. There are a variety of abnormal expression miRNAs in PE, however, the relationship between miR-146b-5p and PE has yet to be fully elucidated.

• What do the results of this study add? We first found that expression levels of serum miR-146b-5p in the first trimester were significantly higher in PE than in a normal pregnancy group. A prediction model a combination of miR-146b-5p and other maternal characteristics and biochemical markers can improve the early predictive value for PE.

• What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? PE progresses rapidly and has become a severe target organ complication when discovered. Therefore, the early prediction of a high risk of PE, along with early intervention and prevention measures, are of great significance. Compared to maternal biochemical markers, combination of miR-146b-5p and maternal characteristics and biochemical markers can improve the early predictive value for PE.

Keywords:

• Pre-eclampsia
• miRNA
• miR-146b-5p
• pregnancy associated plasma protein A
• free β subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin
• prediction model

Authors’ contributions

W.W. Ning and Y.M. Chen, design and statistical analysis; Y.J. Chen and B. Wu wrote the first draft of the manuscript. H.M. Zhang and C.H. Wen were the provision of study material or patients; All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank Songhe Chen from the medical records room of Hangzhou Women’s Hospital for her great contribution to the case collection. We thank International Science Editing (http://www.internationalscienceediting.com) for editing this manuscript.

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by Hangzhou Women’s Hospital (Hangzhou Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital) ethics committee, and the approval number was [2022] Medical Ethics Review A (5) −15. The data used in this study was anonymised before its use. Approved by the hospital ethics committee, this retrospective study did not require to provide informed and signed informed consent.

Consent for publication

Not applicable; this was a retrospective study and no individual person’s personal information is included.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Additional information

Funding

A Project Supported by Scientific Research Fund of Zhejiang Provincial Education Department (Y202145947), Medical and Health Research Project of Zhejiang province (2021KY258), Project guided of Hangzhou Science and Technology Ministry (20220919Y026).