FLT1 and transcriptome-wide polyadenylation site (PAS) analysis in preeclampsia
Ashar-Patel, Ami ; Kaymaz, Yasin ; Rajakumar, Augustine ; Bailey, Jeffrey A. ; Karumanchi, S. Ananth ; Moore, Melissa J.
Citations
Student Authors
Faculty Advisor
Academic Program
Document Type
Publication Date
Subject Area
Embargo Expiration Date
Link to Full Text
Abstract
Maternal symptoms of preeclampsia (PE) are primarily driven by excess anti-angiogenic factors originating from the placenta. Chief among these are soluble Flt1 proteins (sFlt1s) produced from alternatively polyadenylated mRNA isoforms. Here we used polyadenylation site sequencing (PAS-Seq) of RNA from normal and PE human placentae to interrogate transcriptome-wide gene expression and alternative polyadenylation signatures associated with early-onset PE (EO-PE; symptom onset < 34 weeks) and late-onset PE (LO-PE; symptom onset > 34 weeks) cohorts. While we observed no general shift in alternative polyadenylation associated with PE, the EO-PE and LO-PE cohorts do exhibit gene expression profiles distinct from both each other and from normal placentae. The only two genes upregulated across all transcriptome-wide PE analyses to date (microarray, RNA-Seq and PAS-Seq) are NRIP1 (RIP140), a transcriptional co-regulator linked to metabolic syndromes associated with obesity, and Flt1. Consistent with sFlt1 overproduction being a significant driver of clinical symptoms, placental Flt1 mRNA levels strongly correlate with maternal blood pressure. For Flt1, just three mRNA isoforms account for > 94% of all transcripts, with increased transcription of the entire locus driving Flt1 upregulation in both EO-PE and LO-PE. These three isoforms thus represent potential targets for therapeutic RNA interference (RNAi) in both early and late presentations.
Source
Sci Rep. 2017 Sep 22;7(1):12139. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11639-6. Link to article on publisher's site