Comparison of the transcriptional profile in the decidua of early‐onset and late‐onset pre‐eclampsia

AIM: To compare early-onset pre-eclampsia (EOPE) and late-onset pre-eclampsia (LOPE) and provide insight into the pathophysiology of pre-eclampsia (PE). METHODS: Our recent work compared the transcriptomics in decidua of EOPE, LOPE and normal pregnancies (NP). RESULTS: We found there are a significant number of genes uniquely expressed in the decidua of EOPE and LOPE comparing with NP. Moreover, EOPE and LOPE have their distinct profiles. Unique EOPE-associated genes were mainly involved in apoptosis related pathways such as 'apoptosis' and 'Ras signaling pathway'. PIK3CB and BCL-2 are the core regulatory genes in EOPE decidua, their abnormal expression caused decidual abnormal apoptosis which is relevant to the pathogenesis of EOPE. Whereas, LOPE is a more complicated entity which has more special LOPE-associated genes involved in decidua differentiation, especially in 'gap junction pathway', 'vascular smooth muscle contraction' and 'long-term depression'. PIK3CB, FLT1, CBLC and ITGA7 are the core regulatory genes differentially expressed in EOPE decidua comparing with LOPE. CONCLUSION: In brief, the different decidual transcriptomics of EOPE and LOPE may correlate with their different etiology. These findings highlight the complex pathophysiology of PE and provide potential targets for a new treatment strategy in patients with PE.