Maternal serum levels of type I and type III procollagen peptides in pre-eclamptic pregnancy.
OBJECTIVE
To compare maternal serum levels of two markers of collagen synthesis, procollagen I carboxy-terminal peptide (PICP) and procollagen III amino-terminal peptide (PIIINP), in patients with pre-eclampsia and in controls.


METHODS
PICP and PIIINP were measured by radioimmunoassay in maternal serum samples from patients diagnosed with pre-eclampsia at 32 weeks' gestation or later and in controls from the same period of gestation. For PICP, 37 cases and 36 controls were studied; for PIIINP, 12 cases and 19 controls were studied.


RESULTS
Both PICP and PIIINP levels were significantly elevated in patients with pre-eclampsia. PICP and PIIINP levels were, on average, 20% and 80% higher than in controls, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
These results are in agreement with previous findings that maternal serum levels of PICP and PIIINP are mildly elevated in patients with pre-eclampsia. These markers are unlikely to be useful in the prediction of pre-eclampsia.
Yamamoto
H
H
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sapporo Medical University, School of Medicine, Japan.
Lambert-Messerlian
G M
GM
Silver
H M
HM
Kudo
R
R
Kellner
L H
LH
Canick
J A
JA
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000592:standards*; D011347:Procollagen / Q000097:blood*
D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011347:Procollagen; C041876:procollagen Type III-N-terminal peptide; C042813:procollagen type I carboxy terminal peptide