Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a major health complication for pregnant women that increases the risk of mortality and morbidity. Knowledge of the complex molecular mechanisms associated with PE is incomplete and methods for early diagnosis and treatment options in PE are limited. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs involved in pathogenesis of various diseases including PE. In our previous studies, we identified a relationship between miR-510-3p and PE. However, the exact molecular mechanisms and genes regulated by miR-510-3p have not been elucidated.
Methods: In this study, we employed the bioinformatic tools including miRbase, RNAcomposer, RNAfold, TargetScan, miRDB, miRTarbase to analyze the secondary structure and targets of miR-510-3p from the publicly available databases. We compared the miR-510-3p target genes with PE genes retrieved from the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) genes database. The miR-510-3p target genes that were involved in PE were further subjected to gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopaedia for Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis to analyse their biological, molecular and cellular role in PE. STRING, Shiny GO, Cytoscape and Metascape were used for the GO and KEGG analysis.
Results and Conclusions: MicroRNA-510-3p had a minimum free energy of –29.10 Kcal and A+U content of 55.4%, suggesting stability and binding affinity towards its targets. Genes that were involved in the positive regulation of angiogenesis were identified, since angiogenesis is an important process in PE. ADAM12, ANGPT2, CHRNA7, DDAH1, ERAP1, FGF2, GRN, HGF, HIF1A, HK2, HMGB1, HMOX1, IL1A, KDR, NRP1, PRKCB, SERPINE1, SIRT1, TGFBR2, THBS1, TLR3, VEGFA, and WNT5A were the miR-510-3p targets involved in the positive regulation of angiogenesis. In conclusion, miR-510-3p is postulated to play an important role in the pathogenesis of PE. Hence, further studies could define miR-510-3p as a novel therapeutic target for PE
