In the identification of the hsa_circ_0002348/miR-126-3p-regulated downstream target genes which might play a role in trophoblast proliferation and apoptosis of preeclampsia, an integrative analysis of three public databases including Starbase, TargetScan and RNA22, predicted eight common target genes (Fig. 6A), one of which as BAK1 of proapoptotic protein (member of Bcl-2 family), was of particular interest to us for its extensive expression in essentially all organs and its role as a regulator of apoptosis in multiple cell types [36]. Here, BCL2 is linked to preeclampsia.