Increased maternal serum activin A but not follistatin levels in pregnant women with hypertensive disorders

• Published in: Journal of endocrinology Vol. 165; no. 1; pp. 157 - 162
• Main Authors: D'Antona, D, Reis, FM, Benedetto, C, Evans, LW, Groome, NP, de Kretser, DM, Wallace, EM, Petraglia, F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Colchester BioScientifica 01.04.2000; Portland Press
• Subjects: Activins; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Diseases of mother, fetus and pregnancy; Female; Fetal Growth Retardation - blood; Follistatin; Glycoproteins - blood; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Hypertension - blood; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Inhibins - blood; Medical sciences; Pre-Eclampsia - blood; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular - blood; Pregnancy Trimester, Third; Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta; Pregnancy; Human; Hypertension; Binding protein; Follistatin; Peptide hormone; Cardiovascular disease; Activin; Maternal diseases; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0022-0795; 1479-6805
• DOI: 10.1677/joe.0.1650157

Activin A levels are elevated in maternal serum of pregnant women with hypertensive disturbances. Because follistatin is a circulating binding protein for activin A, the present study was designed to evaluate whether serum follistatin and activin A levels also change in patients with hypertensive disorders in the last gestational trimester. The study design was a controlled survey performed in the setting of an academic prenatal care unit. Healthy pregnant women (controls, n=38) were compared with patients suffering from pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH, n=18) or pre-eclampsia (n=16). In addition, the study included a subset of patients with pre-eclampsia associated with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR, n=5). Maternal blood samples were withdrawn at the time of diagnosis (patients) or in a random prenatal visit (controls), and serum was assayed for follistatin and activin A levels using specific enzyme immunoassays. Hormone concentrations were corrected for gestational age by conversion to multiples of median (MoM) of the healthy controls of the same gestational age. Follistatin levels were not different between controls and patients, while activin A levels were significantly increased in patients with PIH (1.8 MoM), pre-eclampsia (4.6 MoM), and pre-eclampsia+IUGR (3.2 MoM, P<0.01, ANOVA). The ratio between activin A and follistatin was significantly increased in patients with PIH (1.5 MoM) and was further increased in patients with pre-eclampsia (4.5 MoM) and in the group with pre-eclampsia+IUGR (2.6 MoM). Follistatin levels were positively correlated with gestational age in control subjects (r=0. 36, P<0.05) and in patients with PIH (r=0.46, P<0.05) or pre-eclampsia (r=0.61, P<0.01), while activin A correlated with gestational age only in the healthy control group (r=0.69, P<0.0001). The finding of apparently normal follistatin and high activin A levels in patients with PIH and pre-eclampsia suggests that unbound, biologically active, activin A is increased in women with these gestational diseases.