We evaluated the potential of cardiovascular-disease-associated microRNAs for early prediction of HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets) syndrome. Gene expression profiling of 29 microRNAs was performed on whole peripheral venous blood samples collected between 10 and 13 weeks of gestation using real-time RT-PCR. The retrospective study involved singleton pregnancies of Caucasian descent only diagnosed with HELLP syndrome (n = 14) and 80 normal-term pregnancies. Upregulation of six microRNAs (miR-1-3p, miR-17-5p, miR-143-3p, miR-146a-5p, miR-181a-5p, and miR-499a-5p) was observed in pregnancies destined to develop HELLP syndrome. The combination of all six microRNAs showed a relatively high accuracy for the early identification of pregnancies destined to develop HELLP syndrome (AUC 0.903, p < 0.001, 78.57% sensitivity, 93.75% specificity, cut-off > 0.1622). It revealed 78.57% of HELLP pregnancies at a 10.0% false-positive rate (FPR). The predictive model for HELLP syndrome based on whole peripheral venous blood microRNA biomarkers was further extended to maternal clinical characteristics, most of which were identified as risk factors for the development of HELLP syndrome (maternal age and BMI values at early stages of gestation, the presence of any kind of autoimmune disease, the necessity to undergo an infertility treatment by assisted reproductive technology, a history of HELLP syndrome and/or pre-eclampsia in a previous gestation, and the presence of trombophilic gene mutations). Then, 85.71% of cases were identified at a 10.0% FPR. When another clinical variable (the positivity of the first-trimester screening for pre-eclampsia and/or fetal growth restriction by the Fetal Medicine Foundation algorithm) was implemented in the HELLP prediction model, the predictive power was increased further to 92.86% at a 10.0% FPR. The model based on the combination of selected cardiovascular-disease-associated microRNAs and maternal clinical characteristics has a very high predictive potential for HELLP syndrome and may be implemented in routine first-trimester screening programs.
Keywords: HELLP syndrome; cardiovascular diseases; first-trimester screening; gene expression; microRNAs; prediction; whole peripheral venous blood.