title: Increased expression levels of E-cadherin, cytokeratin 18 and 19 observed in preeclampsia were not correlated with disease severity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific disorder and placental factor(s) contribute to the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Turnover of villous trophoblast is affected by impaired placental perfusion in preeclampsia. Expression and localisation of cadherins and cytokeratins are involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. However, studies describing the associations between cadherins and cytokeratins in preeclampsia are limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, cytokeratin 18 and cytokeratin 19 in placentae from women with preeclampsia in order to determine whether their expression differs with disease severity.
  
  
  METHODS
  29 preeclamptic placentae and 25 normotensive placentae were included in this study. The expression of E-cadherin, cytokeratin 18, cytokeratin 19 andN-cadherin was quantified by immunohistochemistry and western blotting.
  
  
  RESULTS
  E-cadherin, cytokeratin 18 and cytokeratin 19 were expressed predominantly in the syncytiotrophoblast of the placenta and the expression of E-cadherin, cytokeratin 18 and cytokeratin 19 was significantly increased in preeclampsia compared to normotensive pregnancies. However, there was no significant difference in expression between severe preeclampsia and mild preeclampsia. In addition, there was no difference in the expression of N-cadherin between preeclampsic and normotensive pregnancies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrated increased expression of E-cadherin, cytokeratin 18 and cytokeratin 19 in the syncytiotrophoblast of preeclamptic placentae, but this increase was not correlated with disease severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggests that E-cadherin and cytokeratins are involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. Electronic address: lixuelan1225@126.com.
authors.forename: X L
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China.
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. Electronic address: gou_wenli@126.com.
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Gou
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, The University of Auckland, New Zealand; The Hospital of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Nanjing Medical University, China. Electronic address: q.chen@auckland.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053538:Keratin-18 / Q000378:metabolism*; D053539:Keratin-19 / Q000378:metabolism*; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D053538:Keratin-18; D053539:Keratin-19
keywords: CK18; CK19; E-cadherin; N-cadherin; Preeclampsia