Placental expression of miR-517-5p and miR-518f-5p: Fetal sex-specific relations with human fetoplacental growth

• Published in: European journal of obstetrics & gynecology and reproductive biology Vol. 269; pp. 118 - 125
• Main Authors: Kochhar, Prachi, Dwarkanath, Pratibha, Ravikumar, Gayatri, Thomas, Annamma, Crasta, Julian, Thomas, Tinku, Kurpad, Anura V., Mukhopadhyay, Arpita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.02.2022
• Subjects: Case-Control Studies; Female; Fetal Growth Retardation; Gene expression; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Small for Gestational Age; Male; MicroRNAs - genetics; miRNA; Placenta; Pregnancy; Retrospective Studies; Small for gestational age; Pregnancy; Placenta; miRNA; AGA; Small for gestational age; SGA; Gene expression; BMI
• ISSN: 0301-2115; 1872-7654
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2021.12.030

•Human placental miR-517-5p transcript abundance negatively associates with placental weight and birth weight.•Association of placental miR-517-5p transcript abundance with birth weight is specific to AGA births.•Placental miR-518f-5p transcript abundance negatively associates with placental weight specifically in AGA male births. We aimed to assess association of chromosome 19 miRNA cluster microRNAs (miR-517-5p and miR-518f-5p) expression with maternal, placental and newborn parameters and with their potential angiogenesis-associated target genes ENG, VEGF and FLT in a set of 68 small- (SGA, n = 30) and appropriate- (AGA, n = 38) for gestational age full-term singleton pregnancies, in relation to fetal sex. In this retrospective case-control study, placental transcript abundances of miR-517-5p and miR-518f-5p were assessed by real-time quantitative PCR after normalization to reference miRNA, mir-16-5p. Placental transcript abundances of VEGF, FLT and ENG were assessed after normalizing to a set of reference genes. Placental miR-517-5p transcript abundance was negatively associated with birth weight [β = −88.778, P = 0.006, 95% confidence interval (CI): −151.645, −25.911] and placental weight (β = −14.683, P = 0.007, 95% CI: −25.254, −4.112) and this association with birth weight was specific to the AGA births (β = −59.207, P = 0.037, 95% CI: −114.522, −3.891). miR-518f-5p transcript abundance was negatively associated with placental weight (β = −6.250, P = 0.034, 95% CI: −11.940, −0.559) specifically in the AGA male births (n = 16). Placental VEGF transcript abundance was negatively associated with that of miR-517-5p specifically in SGA female births (n = 14; Spearman's ρ = −0.705, P = 0.005) and with miR-518f-5p transcript abundance specifically in SGA births (Spearman's ρ = −0.437, P = 0.016) and in SGA male births (n = 16; Spearman's ρ = −0.516, P = 0.041). We conclude that placental miR-517-5p could be playing a key role in the pathophysiology of fetal growth restriction, which can be potentially targeted through maternal lifestyle modifications for improving fetoplacental growth.