title: von Willebrand factor-cleaving protease (ADAMTS13) activity in normal non-pregnant women, pregnant and post-delivery women.
abstract: ADAMTS13 dysfunction has been involved in the pathogenesis of Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura. This disorder occurs more frequently in women and, in 13% of them, is associated with pregnancy. However, there is little information on the protease behaviour in normal pregnancy. We studied von Willebrand factor and ADAMTS13 activity changes in normal non-pregnant, pregnant and post-delivery women. Fifty-five non-pregnant women, normal blood bank donors, who were not taking contraceptive pills were included as controls. A prospective cross-sectional study of 270 normal pregnant and post-delivery women was carried out. ADAMTS13 activity decreased progressively as from the period of 12-16 weeks up to the end of early puerperium (mean 52%, range 22-89, p < 0.0001), to increase slightly thereafter. Nulliparous presented mildly lower levels of ADAMTS13 activity than parous women (65% vs. 83 %, p = 0.0003), and primigravidae than multigravidae between 6-11 weeks up to 17-23 weeks of pregnancy (69% vs. 80%, p = 0.005). Although in all women the protease levels were the same by blood groups, the O blood group non-pregnant women showed a higher mean of ADAMTS13 activity than those non-O (78% vs. 69%, p = 0.064). Our results suggest that the changing levels of protease activity during pregnancy and puerperium, induced by unidentified mechanisms, could render the peripartum time more vulnerable to developed thrombotic microangiopathies.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Hemostasia y Trombosis, Instituto de Investigaciones Hematológicas, Academia Nacional de Medicina, Buenos Aires, Argentina. sanchezluceros@hematologia.anm.edu.ar
authors.forename: Analía
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Luceros
authors.forename: Cristina E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Farías
authors.forename: María M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Amaral
authors.forename: Ana C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Kempfer
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Votta
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marchese
authors.forename: María J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Salviú
authors.forename: Adriana I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: Susana S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Meschengieser
authors.forename: María A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lazzari
mesh_terms: D051722:ADAM Proteins; D000071120:ADAMTS13 Protein; D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007122:Immunoelectrophoresis; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases / Q000097:blood*; D010976:Platelet Count; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D011264:Pregnancy Trimesters; D012016:Reference Values; D013997:Time Factors; D014841:von Willebrand Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis
chemical_list: D014841:von Willebrand Factor; D051722:ADAM Proteins; D008666:Metalloendopeptidases; D000071120:ADAMTS13 Protein; C099604:ADAMTS13 protein, human