High temperature requirement A1 in placental tissues and serum from pre-eclamptic pregnancies with or without fetal growth restriction.
BACKGROUND
Pre-eclampsia (PE) is the most serious syndrome of human pregnancy and it is potentially life-threatening for both mother and fetus. The aim of the study was to identify the role of high temperature requirement A1 (HtrA1) in pre-eclampsia.


METHODS
One hundred consecutive pregnancies complicated by PE and 100 normal controls were included in our study. The changes in serum HtrA1 and fetal growth restriction were recorded. The placentae after delivery was also obtained for laboratory analyses.


RESULTS
High temperature requirement A1 expressed positively in all placenta tissues, but showed higher expression from control, PE with AGA (pre-eclamptic pregnancies with appropriate-for-gestational-age newborns) to PE with fetal growth restriction (FGR) groups. Early-onset PE happened more frequently while in PE with AGA, late-onset PE was more common. Additionally, we found that only during ∼28-32 gestational weeks, sera HtrA1 level of PE with AGA and PE with FGR was increased significantly compared with the control group (p < 0.05). In contrast, there was no significant difference between groups in other gestational ages in the third trimester (p > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
HtrA1 could potentially affect trophoblast migration and invasion during placentation, resulting in the shallow invasion noted in pre-eclampsia. HtrA1 may play an important role in the etiology and severity of PE and FGR. But the actual mechanism still needs deep research.
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, First Affiliated Hospital, Medical School, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China.
Lu
L
Zong
Lijuan
L
Wang
Pu
P
Huang
Wenyu
W
Shao
Yu
Y
Song
Wenli
W
Gou
etiology; fetal growth restriction; high temperature requirement A1; pre-eclampsia; pregnancy