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Multi-organ inflammatory phenotypes and transcriptomic characterization in an inflammation-driven mouse model of preeclampsia induced by LPS

WANG Ning^1,2, FENG Jing-Qiu², XIE Ying², SUN Meng-Can², WANG Qi², WANG Zhe², GAO Lu^2,*

¹School of Medicine, Shanghai University, Shanghai 201900, China；²Department of Physiology, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China

Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is a severe gestational disorder characterized by hypertension and proteinuria, with a subset of cases exhibiting an immune-driven phenotype marked by placental overexpression of proinflammatory cytokines and chronic inflammatory damage, profoundly impacting fetal development. To elucidate the pathophysiology of this PE subtype, we established an inflammation-driven PE mouse model via lipopolysaccharide (LPS) intraperitoneal injection, systematically evaluating histopathological changes in maternal heart, liver, lung, kidney, and placenta, and integrating transcriptomic profiling to uncover molecular mechanisms. LPS administration robustly induced maternal hypertension and proteinuria, hallmarks of PE, without significantly altering organ or fetal weights. Histological analyses revealed pronounced inflammatory damage in the maternal lung, kidney, and placenta, with the lung exhibiting the most severe pathology, characterized by inflammatory cell infiltration, alveolar wall thickening, and interstitial edema—challenging the conventional focus on placental and renal primacy in PE. Placental labyrinth and junctional zones displayed extensive structural disruption and necrosis, indicating functional impairment. Transcriptomic analysis identified inflammation-related genes consistently upregulated across tissues, with protein-protein interaction networks pinpointing Il1β, Il6, Ccl5, Ccl2, Cxcl10, Tlr2, and Icam1 as hub genes. Quantitative PCR validation confirmed Tlr2 as a central regulator, evidenced by significant upregulation of Tlr2 in lung, kidney, and placenta of LPS-induced PE mice, while Cxcl10 exhibited placenta-specific upregulation, suggesting a synergistic inflammatory axis in placental pathology. These findings highlight the lung as a critical, yet underappreciated, target in inflammation-driven PE, reframe the multi-organ inflammatory landscape of the disease, and nominate Tlr2 and Cxcl10 as potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets, offering new avenues for precision intervention in PE.

Key words: preeclampsia; inflammation-driven; lung injury; transcriptomic analysis; Tlr2/Cxcl10

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 高路　　E-mail:

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2025.0042

Citing This Article：

WANG Ning, FENG Jing-Qiu, XIE Ying, SUN Meng-Can, WANG Qi, WANG Zhe, GAO Lu. Multi-organ inflammatory phenotypes and transcriptomic characterization in an inflammation-driven mouse model of preeclampsia induced by LPS. Acta Physiol Sin 2025; 77 (5): 775-791 (in Chinese with English abstract).