Progesterone Receptor Membrane Component-1 May Promote Survival of Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells in Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Cerebrovascular changes occur in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The progesterone receptor membrane component-1 (PGRMC1) is a well identified hormone receptor with multiple functions in AD. This study aims to explore the involvement of PGRMC1 in the regulation of vascular endothelial function, providing new therapy options for AD. Single-cell sequencing revealed that the expression of PGRMC1 is lower in AD. By bioinformatics analysis, we found PGRMC1 was associated with regulation of cell proliferation, angiogenesis and etc. To understand the functional significance of PGRMC1, knockdown and overexpression were performed using human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMVECs), respectively. Cell proliferation assay, migration assay, tube formation assay were performed in experiments. We demonstrated that the overexpression of PGRMC1 promoted the cellular processes associated with endothelia cell proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis, significantly. In conclusion, PGRMC1 may contribute to the modulation of HBMVECs function in AD. This finding may offer novel targets for AD treatment.