Proteomic Analysis Reveals Differential Protein Expression in Placental Tissues of Early-Onset Preeclampsia Patients

Preeclampsia, a significant cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality, remains poorly understood, in terms of its pathogenesis. This study aims to uncover novel and effective biomarkers for preeclampsia by conducting a comparative analysis of differential proteins in placentas from early onset preeclampsia (EOPE) and normal pregnancies. Utilizing tandem mass tag (TMT)-based quantitative proteomics, we identified differentially expressed proteins in placental tissues from 15 EOPE patients and 15 normal pregnant women. These proteins were subsequently validated by using parallel reaction monitoring (PRM). Our analysis revealed a total of 59 differentially expressed proteins, with 25 up-regulated and 34 down-regulated proteins in EOPE placental tissues compared to those from normal pregnancies. Validation through PRM confirmed the differential expression of 6 proteins. Our findings suggest these 6 proteins could play crucial roles in the pathogenesis of EOPE, highlighting the potential involvement of the estrogen signaling pathway and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) pathway in the development of preeclampsia. The data were deposited with the ProteomeXchange Consortium via the iProX partner repository with the identifier PXD055025.