Preeclampsia is a multi-system disease that is unique to human pregnancy. Impaired extravillous trophoblast migration and invasion accompanied by poor spiral vascular remodeling is thought to be the initial reason. This study investigated cAMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor-b(PKIB) expression in placentas and its involvement in the pathogenesis of PE. We used immunohistochemistry and western blotting to calculate PKIB levels in the placentas. Then we knocked down PKIB by siRNA and used real-time cell analysis to assess the invasion and migration ability of trophoblasts. Tube formation assay and spheroid sprouting assay were utilized to identify the ability to form vessels of trophoblasts. At last, western blotting was used to demonstrate the level of phosphorylated Akt, as well as downstream-related genes of Akt signaling pathway in trophoblasts. We first found that PKIB expression level was lower in the PE placentas than in the normal placentas. In addition, we found that downregulation of PKIB can inhibit the migration, invasion, and the ability to form vessels of HTR8/SVneo cells. Downregulation of PKIB leaded to a decrease in phosphorylated Akt, as well as downstream proteins such as matrix metalloproteinase 2, matrix metalloproteinase 9, and glycogen synthase kinase 3β, which are related to migration and invasion. Our study revealed that the downregulation of PKIB expression resulted in decreased migration, invasion, and vessel formation ability by regulating Akt signaling pathway in placental trophoblasts in PE.
Keywords: Akt pathway; Cell invasion; Cell migration; PKIB; Preeclampsia.