The expression of serum sEGFR, sFlt-1, sEndoglin and PLGF in preeclampsia

• Published in: Pregnancy hypertension Vol. 13; pp. 127 - 132
• Main Authors: Cui, Lifeng, Shu, Chang, Liu, Zitao, Tong, Weihua, Cui, Miao, Wei, Chengguo, Tang, Jian Jenny, Liu, Xiufen, Hu, Jinghai, Jiang, Jing, He, Jin, Zhang, David Y., Ye, Fei, Li, Yulin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.07.2018
• Subjects: Adult; Biomarkers - blood; Birth Weight; Blood Pressure; Case-Control Studies; Endoglin - blood; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; ErbB Receptors - blood; Female; Fetal Growth Retardation - blood; Fetal Growth Retardation - etiology; Fetal Growth Retardation - physiopathology; Gestational Age; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infant, Small for Gestational Age; Microarray Analysis; Placenta Growth Factor - blood; PLGF; Pre-Eclampsia - blood; Pre-Eclampsia - diagnosis; Pre-Eclampsia - physiopathology; Predictive Value of Tests; Pregnancy; Premature Birth - blood; Premature Birth - etiology; Premature Birth - physiopathology; Preterm preeclampsia; Risk Factors; sEGFR; sEndoglin; Severity of Illness Index; sFlt-1; Term preeclampsia; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 - blood; Young Adult; Term preeclampsia; sEndoglin; sEGFR; sFlt-1; PLGF; Preterm preeclampsia
• ISSN: 2210-7789; 2210-7797
• DOI: 10.1016/j.preghy.2018.05.011

•Preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality.•The only treatment option is to deliver the fetus and placenta.•It is urgent to explore potential biochemical markers for diagnosis and intervention.•Our work is to unravel markers to stratify severity of preterm preeclampsia.•We develop a multiplex immuno-assay panel using Luminex® xMAP® Technology and ELISA.•sEndoglin and sEGFR may be involved in pathogenesis of SGA in preterm preeclampsia. The objective of this study was to investigate soluble epidermal growth factor receptor (sEGFR), soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (sFlt-1), soluble endoglin (sEndoglin) and placenta growth factor (PLGF) concentrations in normotensive, preterm and term preeclamptic pregnancies’ serum and thus to specify the clinical utility of these biochemical markers in monitoring severity and intrauterine growth retardation of preterm preeclampsia. 172 pregnant women were divided into the following groups: preterm preeclampsia, preterm control, term preeclampsia and term control. Preterm preeclampsia patients were stratified with severe feature (n = 50) and without severe feature (n = 22). sEGFR, sEndoglin and PLGF were assessed using Luminex multiplex immunoassay, whilesFlt-1 was assessed using ELISA. sEGFR was significantly lower in preterm preeclampsia than matched control (p < 0.001) and mildly lower in term preeclampsia than matched control (p < 0.01). On contrary, sFlt-1 was significantly higher in preterm preeclampsia than matched control (p < 0.001) and mildly higher in term preeclampsia than matched control (p < 0.01). sFlt-1, sFlt-1/sEGFR and sFlt-1/PLGF were positively correlated with the severity of preterm preeclampsia (P < 0.001, R value ≥ 0.6), especially sFlt-1/sEGFR had the highest R value (R value = 0.711) among them. Furthermore, sEndoglin and the ratio of sEndoglin/sEGFR were associated with neonatal birth weight small for gestational age (SGA, n = 25) in preterm preeclampsia group. Conclusions: The ratio of sFlt-1/sEGFR could be used as a novel candidate biochemical marker in monitoring the severity of preterm preeclampsia. sEndoglin and sEGFR may be involved in the pathogenesis of SGA in preterm preelampsia.