Placental mRNA expression of angiopoietins (Ang)-1, Ang-2 and their receptor Tie-2 is altered in pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia

摘要

Objective To investigate the placental expression of angiopoietin (Ang)-1, Ang-2 and their receptor, Tie-2, in preeclampsia (PE) with or without intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Methods Case-control study including placentas from 28 PE pregnancies, 30 PE-IUGR pregnancies and 40 controls. The expression status of the genes was evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR. Results In both PE and PE-IUGR groups, compared to the control group, there was significantly higher expression of Ang-2 (p 0.001) and Tie-2 (p = 0.008) and lower expression of Ang-1 (p = 0.001). The magnitude of the difference was similar for Ang-1 for both groups, whereas the magnitude of the differences was higher for Ang-2 and Tie-2 in PE-IUGR group compared to controls. Ang-2 and Tie-2 were correlated in both PE (r = 0.8602, p 0.001) and PE-IUGR (r = 0.6342, p 0.001) groups. In PE-IUGR group, Ang-1 was associated to Ang-2 (r = 0.3458, p = 0.0452) and Tie-2 (r = 0.4448, p = 0.0084). Log10Ang-1 but not Ang-2 was gestational age dependent (R2 = 0.40, p 0.001). After conversion in Multiples of the Median (MoM) log10 MoM Ang-1 was reduced in the PE group (mean = -0.8181, p 0.001) and the PE-IUGR group (mean = -1.2583, p 0.001) compared to control group (mean = -0.0924). Discussion We have demonstrated increased placental expression of Ang-2 and Tie-2 along with lower expression levels of Ang-1 in pregnancies with PE and PE-IUGR. Conclusion The angiopoietin axis seems to be disrupted in PE pregnancies. Whether the results of this study represent the angiogenic imbalance observed in PE pregnancies or they are part of the pathophysiology of this condition has to be further investigated.