ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The pathogenesis of preeclampsia (PE) is complex and involves many mechanisms, including impaired placental angiogenesis. Endoglin (Eng) promotes angiogenesis, but in its soluble form (sEng) it is antiangiogenic and adiponectin has pro-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory effects on the endothelium. The combined analysis of these factors seems to better reflect maternal vascular damage. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate adiponectin and soluble endoglin levels, to analyze adiponectin (+45) gene polymorphism and its relation with adiponectin serum levels in patients with PE. METHODS: This case-control study included 24 PE patients and 20 healthy pregnant women (C: control). Adiponectin and sEng serum levels were determined by ELISA. Polymorphism genotyping was obtained by PCR-RFLP. Data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney, Chi-square or Fisher's exact tests and significance was set at p<0.05. RESULTS: There were no differences in adiponectin levels between the groups (C×PE: 6772.4ng/mL×7763.2ng/mL, p=0.99), but women with PE had significantly higher sEng levels (23.45 ng/mL×3.35ng/mL, p<0.0001). Moreover, the ratio adiponectin/sEng was significantly lower in PE than in C women (325.02×2119.4, p<0.0001). There was no association between PE and the analyzed polymorphism, neither between adiponectin genotype/phenotype. CONCLUSION: Our findings confirm an association between PE and altered sEng levels. In addition, these results suggest that angiogenic mediators when analyzed together, can better reflect their involvement in the pathophysiology of PE. Financial support: FAPESP (09/54729-6 and 10/08082-8).
