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. Overall design: mRNA profiles of embryonic day 13 placenta following PEGylated (PEG) interleukin (IL)11 treatment in wild-type and Asc-/- (Pycard-/-) mice.