Table 4.

Functional annotation of representative candidate genes identified from DEG, KEGG, and GSEA analyses

Candidate Gene	Regulation (shPGR vs. Control)	Major pathway(s) (KEGG/GSEA)	Biological process
PDCD4	Up	Apoptosis, p53 signaling	Promotes apoptosis and inhibits trophoblast proliferation
NEDD4	Up	WNT signaling, Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis	Regulates WNT receptor turnover and cell growth
PAGE4	Down	Stem cell pluripotency, MAPK signaling	Marker of trophoblast stemness and stress response
WNT7B	Down	WNT signaling, Pluripotency-related pathways	Mediates trophoblast proliferation and differentiation
FOXC1	Down	Hippo signaling, Cell cycle regulation	Controls stem-like properties and EMT balance

Summary of representative candidate genes (PDCD4, NEDD4, PAGE4, WNT7B, and FOXC1) selected from DEG screening combined with KEGG and GSEA enrichment analyses. The table lists their regulation patterns (shPGR vs. control), major enriched pathways, and relevant biological processes in trophoblast function