Expression of placental growth factor mRNA in preeclampsia

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a serious complication of pregnancy withhallmarks of incomplete placentation, placental ischemia and endothelialdysfunction. Imbalance between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF),placenta growth factor (PlGF) and their receptors play important role inpathophysiology of PE.Objective: This study was aimed to asses PlGF mRNA expression in placenta ofwomen affected with PE.Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, expression of PlGF mRNAwas evaluated in 26 mild PE cases, 15 severe preeclamptic women and 20normotensive controls. Patients were sub-classified as early onset PE (9) and lateonset (32). After RNA extraction, PlGF expression was quantified with qRT-PCR.Results: The results of PlGF mRNA expression between mild-severe, and early-lateonset PE patients showed no statistically significant difference compared with thecontrol group (p=0.661, p=0.205 respectively).Conclusion: Despite we found no distinct differential expression of PlGF mRNA inplacental tissue of PE patients compared with control women, but according todecreased level of this angiogenic factor in PE even before clinical onset of thedisease, determining molecular mechanisms related to reduced secretion of PlGFinto the maternal circulation may be useful for future therapeutics.

Keywords:

Preeclampsia , Expression , Placental growth factor , Endothelial dysfunction