Preeclampsia, a complication of pregnancy characterized by hypertension and proteinuria, has been found to reduce the subsequent risk for breast cancer in female offspring. As this protective effect could be due to exposure to preeclampsia-specific proteins during intrauterine life, the proteomic profiles of umbilical cord blood plasma between preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancies were comp...

Preeclampsia is a common disease that can occur during human pregnancy and is a leading cause of both maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Inadequate trophoblast invasion and deficient remodeling of uterine spiral arteries are associated with preeclampsia (PE). The development of this syndrome is thought to be related to multiple factors. Recently, we isolated patient-specific human a...

Increased cardiac output in pregnancy is associated with cardiac remodeling and possible reduction in contractility, which may worsen in preeclampsia. Left ventricular (LV) geometry and function were compared between nonpregnant controls (n = 12) and normotensive (n = 44) and preeclamptic (n = 15) pregnant women using echocardiography. Load-independent comparisons of LV systolic function compar...

OBJECTIVE Pregnancy induces a smaller rise in plasma volume in formerly preeclamptic women with a pre-existent subnormal plasma volume than in their counterparts with a normal plasma volume. These women also have a three times higher recurrence rate of pregnancy-induced hypertensive disorders. In this study we tested the hypothesis that a subnormal plasma volume in these women is related to a l...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of the D6 decoy receptor that can bind chemokines and target them for degradation, resulting in inhibition of inflammation in placentas from preeclamptic and normal pregnancies. METHODS The current study was carried out in 35 pregnant women (23 patients with preeclampsia and 12 healthy, normotensive pregnant women) during t...

Oxidative stress may increase production of superoxide and nitric oxide, leading to formation of prooxidant peroxynitrite to cause vascular dysfunction. Having found nitrotyrosine residues, a marker of peroxynitrite action, in placental vessels of preeclamptic and diabetic pregnancies, we determined whether vasoreactivity is altered in these placentas and treatment with peroxynitrite produces v...

Objective-Preeclampsia is one of the leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of β hCG and other biochemical markers in preeclampsia and in normotensive patients . Method – This was a prospective study conducted on 50 preeclamptic (case)and 50 normotensive pregnant women (control) in obstetrics and gynaecology department o...

BACKGROUND Our objective was to determine the role of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), markers of immune activation and endothelial dysfunction, in patients with preeclampsia. METHODS Twenty four women with preeclampsia and eighteen antepartum normotensive pregnant women were recruited as controls. Serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-alpha were measured by enzyme-lin...

BACKGROUND Preeclampsia and its association with thrombophilia remain controversial, due to inconsistent results in different studies, which include different ethnic groups, selection criteria, and patient numbers. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between thrombophilia and preeclamptic patients in our region. METHODS In a prospective case-control study, we compared 100 ...

The recent discovery of additional alternative spliced FLT1 transcripts encoding novel soluble (s)FLT1 protein isoforms complicates both the predictive value and functional implications of sFLT1 in preeclampsia. We investigated FLT1 expression levels and splicing patterns in placentas of normotensive and preeclamptic women, and established the tissue specificity of all FLT1 transcript variants....