Amniotic Fluid Angiogenic and Inflammatory Factor Profiling in Foetal Down Syndrome

Objectives: Angiogenic factors are proteins that can potentially be related to certain foetal chromosomal abnormalities. The goal of this study was to determine the concentrations of 60 angiogenic factors in the amniotic fluid of women carrying foetuses with Down syndrome (DS).

Methods: After analysis of the karyotyping results, for the purpose of this study, we chose 12 women with foetal DS. For the control group, we selected 12 healthy patients with uncomplicated pregnancies (15-18 weeks of gestation) who delivered healthy newborns at term. To assess the concentrations of proteins in the amniotic fluid, we used a protein macroarray, which enabled the simultaneous determination of 60 angiogenic factors per sample.

Results: In the amniotic fluid of women with foetal DS compared to patients with healthy foetuses, we reported significant decreases in the concentrations of 14 angiogenic factors, including leptin, angiopoietin 1 (ANG-1), angiostatin, epidermal growth factor (EGF), interleukin 1-beta (IL-1b), interleukin 4 (IL-4), interleukin 12p40 (IL-12p40), monocyte chemotactic protein 2 (MCP-2), matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 (PECAM-1), transforming growth factor alpha (TGF alpha), vascular endothelial growth factor 2 (VEGFR2), and vascular endothelial growth factor 3 (VEGFR3).

Conclusions: Based on our findings, we hypothesise that angiogenic factors may play roles in the pathogenesis of DS. Defining the factors' potential as biochemical factors of DS requires further investigation in a larger group of patients.