miR-139-5p promotes the proliferation and invasion of trophoblast cells by targeting sFlt-1 in preeclampsia

Background: The biological functions of placental trophoblast cells have been reported to be critical in pre-eclampsia (PE) and its complications. Here, we aimed to investigate the role and underlying mechanism of soluble fms-like tyrsine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) and miR-139-5p in severe preeclampsia (sPE) by culturing the trophoblast cells from patients. Methods: ELISA and qRT-PCR were used to measure the expression of sFlt-1 and miR-139-5p. The direct interaction between sFlt-1 and miR-139-5p was determined by luciferase reporter assay. Cell proliferation and invasion were evaluated by CCK-8 analysis and transwell assay. Results: Our results showed that miR-139-5p was downregulated in sPE patients and was negatively correlated with the expression of sFlt-1. Further, sFlt-1 was a direct target of miR-139-5p, which monitored the expression of sFlt-1. Besides, miR-139-5p promoted the proliferation and invasion of trophoblast cells derived from sPE patients. Overexpression of sFlt-1 attenuated the effects of miR-139-5p on cell proliferation and invasion of trophoblast cells from sPE patients. Conclusion: Our research proposes a novel mechanism where the role of miR-139-5p is dependent on sFlt-1. Our data demonstrated that miR-139-5p promoted the proliferation and invasion of trophoblast cells by directly targeting sFlt-1 in PE.