Next-generation sequencing reveals IL11 drives preeclampsia by disrupting trophoblast differentiation and activating the placental inflammasome

Preeclampsia is a life-threatening disorder of pregnancy unique to humans. Interleukin (IL)11 is elevated in serum from pregnancies that subsequently develop early-onset preeclampsia and pharmacological elevation of IL11 in pregnant mice causes the development of preeclampsia-like features (hypertension and proteinuria), however, the mechanism by which IL11 drives preeclampsia-like features is unknown. Using Next-generation sequencing we demonstrate that treatment with PEGylated IL11 (PEGIL11) inhibited placental expression of markers of spongiotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast linages and increased placental cathepsin production in wild-type and Asc-/- mice. Function studies showed that IL11 acts via Asc inflammasomes to induce tissue fibrosis and preeclampsia in mice. This study has far-reaching implications on our understanding of the underlying etiology of preeclampsia and the mechanism by which IL11 causes inflammation and fibrosis in many tissues and disease states. mRNA profiles of embryonic day 13 placenta following PEGylated (PEG) interleukin (IL)11 treatment in wild-type and Asc-/- (Pycard-/-) mice.