EID1 plays a protective role in early-onset pre-eclampsia via promoting proliferation and invasion in trophoblast cells

Introduction. Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy-specific syndrome, which is partly due to abnormal proliferation and invasion of trophoblast cells. EP300 interacting inhibitor of differentiation 1 (EID1) participates in cell prolif-eration and invasion. This study aims to investigate the roles of EID1 in trophoblast cells and pre-eclampsia. Material and methods. The expression of EID1 in placental tissues from 60 women with pre-eclampsia and 60 health pregnancies was detected by real-time PCR and immunohistochemical staining. EID1 was overexpressed or silenced by transfection of plasmid or siRNA in HTR-8/SVneo trophoblast cells, and then cell proliferation, cell cycle transition, migration, and invasion were determined by CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, immunofluo-rescent staining, immunoblotting, and transwell assays. In addition, the activity of Akt/b-catenin signaling was measured by immunofluorescent staining and Western blot. Results. EID1 mRNA level was decreased in placental tissues of pre-eclampsia patients, especially early-onset pre-eclampsia, accompanied by more severe clinical manifestation and a higher rate of fetal growth restriction (FGR). Gain-and loss-of-function experiments demonstrated that EID1 promoted proliferation and cell cycle transition, migration, and invasion in HTR-8/SVneo cells and its knockdown played opposite roles, suggesting that EID1 may be required for normal gestation. Akt/b-catenin signaling was activated after EID1 forced ex -pression and deactivated after its silencing. Conclusions. EID1 promoted proliferation and invasion of cultured trophoblast cells with possible involvement of Akt/b-catenin signaling. These findings may provide novel insights for the diagnosis and treatment of early-onset pre-eclampsia in a clinic. (Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica 2022, Vol. 60, No. 1, 31-43)