Collagen I Induces Preeclampsia-Like Symptoms by Suppressing Proliferation and Invasion of Trophoblasts

• Main Authors: Yinglin Feng, Xia Chen, Huiqiao Wang, Xueping Chen, Zixin Lan, Pan Li, Yingshi Cao, Mian Liu, Jin Lv, Yun Chen, Yu Wang, Chao Sheng, Yingying Huang, Mei Zhong, Zhijian Wang, Xiaojing Yue, Liping Huang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-08-01
• Series: Frontiers in Endocrinology
• Subjects: fibrosis; collagen I; preeclampsia; placenta; pathogenesis
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.664766/full

Preeclampsia is a common obstetric disorder affecting 2-8% of pregnancy worldwide. Fibrosis is an important histological change occurring in preeclamptic placenta, and might depend on the excess deposition of collagen I. However, the role of fibrotic placenta and collagen I in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia remains unclear. Therefore, we analyzed the collagen deposition and the expression of Collagen I in human placenta by Masson staining, Sirius red staining and western blotting. Further, the role of collagen I in preeclampsia pathogenesis was studied in C57BL/6 mice. HTR-8/SVneo cells were used to investigate the mechanisms underlying the effects of collagen I in trophoblasts by transcriptome sequencing and pharmacological agonists. Human preeclamptic placenta exhibited a significantly higher degree of fibrosis in stem villi and terminal villi than normal placenta, and was characterized by collagen I deposition. In vivo, a single injection of collagen I on gestational day 0.5 led to an increase in systolic pressure of pregnant mice from gestational days 4.5–17.5, to a decrease in weight and number of embryos, and to enhanced placental collagen I expression and degree of fibrosis compared with control mice. In vitro, collagen I attenuated the proliferation and invasion of HTR-8SV/neo cells. This effect could be reversed by treatment with agonists of ERK and β-catenin. Moreover, transcriptome sequencing demonstrated that signaling pathways related to cell proliferation and invasion were significantly downregulated in HTR-8SV/neo cells. Thus, we propose that collagen I induced preeclampsia-like symptoms by suppressing the proliferation and invasion of trophoblasts through inhibition of the ERK phosphorylation and WNT/β-catenin signaling pathways. Our findings could pave the way to the discovery of small-molecule inhibitors for preeclampsia treatment and future studies with larger sample size are required.