Hypomethylation of tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2 in human placenta of preeclampsia

Abstract Objectives To investigate the expression, DNA methylation status and its regulatory mechanism of tissue factor pathway inhibitor 2 (TFPI-2) in human placenta tissues of preeclampsia (PE). Material and methods We studied the mRNA and protein expression and the promoter methylation levels of TFPI-2 in the PE placentas compared with those in the normal pregnant (NP) women. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, western blot, and Sequenom MassARRAY were used for placenta tissue detection. Results The expressions of TFPI-2 mRNA and protein were significantly elevated in the PE placentas when compared with those in the NP ones ( P P  = 0.005). The methylation level was significantly decreased at CpG_6 (− 168 to − 167), CpG_15 (− 98 to − 97) and CpG_18.19 (− 68 to − 65) in PE patients than that in normal placentas ( P P  > 0.05). Conclusion Over-expression of TFPI-2 and aberrant promoter mythylation status presented in the PE placentas, suggesting that epigenetic mechanism might contribute to the pathogenesis of PE.