Objective  To investigate the abnormal expression of long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) urate hydrolase pseudogene (URAHP) in the placental tissue of preeclampsia and its effects on proliferation and invasion of trophoblast cells.

  Methods  Six cases of preeclampsia and normal maternal placental tissue were selected, among whom three patients with preeclampsia were selected as PE group, and three normal pregnant women as control group. The differentially expressed LncRNAs and miRNAs in the two groups were screened; the differential expression of LncRNA URAHP in the placental tissues of the two groups was analyzed. CCK-8 method were used to analyze the effects of URAHP on trophoblastic proliferation and invasion. The expressions of URAHP as well as KISS1R in JAR, JET-3 and HTR-8/SVneo cell lines were determined.

  Results  A total of 205 differentially expressed genes were identified, among which 56 were up-regulated and 149 were down-regulated. The expression of URAHP pseudogenes was significantly increased in placental tissues of preeclampsia patients compared with those of the normal pregnant women (P < 0.05). Downregulation of URAHP could change the proliferation ability of JAR/Jet-3 cells; the overexpression of URAHP promoted the proliferation of HTR-8/SVneo cells. KISS1R was the co-expression gene of URAHP in the placenta of preeclampsia.

  Conclusion  Pseudogene URAHP may be associated with the onset of preeclampsia.