Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound methods used for the diagnosis of an abnormally invasive placenta (AIP) have a wide range of sensitivity (Se, 33-93%) and specificity (Sp, 71-100%) levels, which results in a high risk of unfavorable maternal and perinatal outcomes. The relevance of optimizing the diagnosis of AIP is beyond doubt. Given the epigenetic nature of trophoblast invasion, we aimed to quantitate microRNAs and proteins of their target genes that are potentially associated with AIP in blood plasma samples from 64 pregnant women at gestation weeks 30-34 by reverse transcription coupled with polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting, respectively. Statistically significant increases in the expression levels of hsa-miR-17-5p, hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-25-3p, hsa-miR-92a-3p, and hsa-miR-320a-3p were revealed in the groups of women with AIP (accreta, increta, percreta) relative to the group of women with scars on the uterus or to the group with placenta previa. Opposite changes in the expression level of "gene-target protein/miRNA" pairs were found for the α-subunit of the clusterin secretory form and any of the hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-25-3p, hsa-miR-92a-3p, hsa-miR-320a-3p, and hsa-miR-17-5p in all cases of AIP. The developed logistic regression models to diagnose AIP cases of various severity gave Se values of 88.8-100% and Sp values of 91.6-100% using a combination of hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-92a-3p, hsa-miR-320a-3p, or clusterin levels.
Keywords: NGS; RT-PCR; abnormally invasive placenta; accreta; increta; miRNA; percreta; peripheral blood plasma; pregnant women; secretory clusterin; soluble E-cadherin.