title: Impaired adenosine-mediated angiogenesis in preeclampsia: potential implications for fetal programming.
abstract: Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific syndrome, defined by such clinical hallmarks as the onset of maternal hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation. The syndrome is also characterized by impaired blood flow through the utero-placental circulation and relative placental ischemia, which in turn, may generate feto-placental endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial dysfunction in offspring born from preeclamptic pregnancies has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including hypertension, later in life. Interestingly, diminished endothelial function, manifested by low angiogenic capacity, leads to hypertension in animal studies. Recently, we have shown that the adenosine receptor A2A/nitric oxide/vascular endothelial growth factor axis is reduced in human umbilical vein endothelial cells derived from preeclamptic pregnancies, an effect correlated with gestational age at onset of preeclampsia. We and others suggested that impaired vascular function might be associated with high cardiovascular risk in offspring exposed to pregnancy diseases. However, we are not aware of any studies that examine impaired adenosine-mediated angiogenesis as a possible link to hypertension in offspring born from preeclamptic pregnancies. In this review, we present evidence supporting the hypothesis that reduced adenosine-mediated angiogenesis during preeclamptic pregnancies might be associated with development of hypertension in the offspring.
authors.affiliation: Vascular Physiology Laboratory, Group of Investigation in Tumor Angiogenesis, Group of Research and Innovation in Vascular Health, Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad del Bío-Bío Chillán, Chile.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Escudero
authors.affiliation: Magee-Womens Research Institute, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Department of Epidemiology and Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Research, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Myatt
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN, USA ; Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Feoktistov
keywords: adenosine receptors; angiogenesis; placenta; preeclampsia; programming