Hypoxia regulates fibrosis-related genes via histone lactylation in the placentas of patients with preeclampsia

BACKGROUND: Histone lactylation, a novel epigenetic modification induced by hypoxia and lactate, plays an important role in regulating gene expression. However, the role of histone lactylation in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia remains unknown. METHODS: Placentas from preeclamptic patients and control pregnant women were collected for protein immunoassay to detect the expression level of histone lactylation, and two trophoblast cell lines were used to simulate the effect of histone lactylation on genes. RESULTS: We found that lactate and histone lactylation levels were increased in preeclamptic placentas. In vitro, hypoxia was demonstrated to induce histone lactylation by promoting the production of lactate in human-trophoblast-derived cell line (HTR-8/SVneo) and human first-trimester extravillous trophoblast cell line (TEV-1) cells. In addition, 152 genes were found to be upregulated by both hypoxia exposure and sodium l-lactate treatment in HTR-8/SVneo cells. These genes were mainly enriched in the pathways including the response to hypoxia, cell migration and focal adhesion. Among the 152 genes, nine were upregulated in preeclamptic placentas. Most noteworthy, two upregulated fibrosis-related genes, FN1 and SERPINE1, were promoted by hypoxia through histone lactylation mediated by the production of lactate. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated the elevated levels of histone lactylation in preeclamptic placentas and identified fibrosis-related genes that were promoted by histone lactylation induced by hypoxia in trophoblast cells, which provides novel insights into the mechanism of placental dysfunction in preeclampsia.