Objective: This study investigated whether the antiangiogenic factors' concentrations differ according to the clinical manifestations of preeclampsia.
Methods: This study included 62 preeclampsia and compared the soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), soluble endoglin (sEng), and placental growth factor (PlGF) concentrations among patients with different clinical manifestations of preeclampsia. We also compared the patients with preeclampsia to 62 controls matched by age, gestational age, and parity after 20 weeks of gestation.
Results: The sEng concentrations were significantly elevated in early-onset than in late-onset preeclampsia (105.4 +/- 37.9 vs 66.3 +/- 36.0 ng/mL, p = 0.0008). Moreover, the sEng levels were also higher in severe preeclampsia compared to mild (42.5 +/- 31.0 vs 79.2 +/- 38.6 ng/mL, p = 0.0013) and in the small for gestational age (SGA) group compared to the group without SGA (68.3 +/- 39.3 vs 85.7 +/- 38.2 ng/mL, p = 0.0273). The sFlt-1 levels, however, did not reveal significant difference according to the onset-time, severity, and presence of SGA. The antiangiogenic factors' concentrations were not related with the degree of hypertension or proteinuria.
Conclusion: Altered antiangiogenic factors might be involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia with synergistic, but different roles. Especially, sEng may be more related with early and severe preeclampsia.
(c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.