title: Placental mRNA expression of angiopoietins (Ang)-1, Ang-2 and their receptor Tie-2 is altered in pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the placental expression of angiopoietin (Ang)-1, Ang-2 and their receptor, Tie-2, in preeclampsia (PE) with or without intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).
  
  
  METHODS
  Case-control study including placentas from 28 PE pregnancies, 30 PE-IUGR pregnancies and 40 controls. The expression status of the genes was evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In both PE and PE-IUGR groups, compared to the control group, there was significantly higher expression of Ang-2 (p < 0.001) and Tie-2 (p = 0.008) and lower expression of Ang-1 (p = 0.001). The magnitude of the difference was similar for Ang-1 for both groups, whereas the magnitude of the differences was higher for Ang-2 and Tie-2 in PE-IUGR group compared to controls. Ang-2 and Tie-2 were correlated in both PE (r = 0.8602, p < 0.001) and PE-IUGR (r = 0.6342, p < 0.001) groups. In PE-IUGR group, Ang-1 was associated to Ang-2 (r = 0.3458, p = 0.0452) and Tie-2 (r = 0.4448, p = 0.0084). Log10Ang-1 but not Ang-2 was gestational age dependent (R2 = 0.40, p < 0.001). After conversion in Multiples of the Median (MoM) log10 MoM Ang-1 was reduced in the PE group (mean = -0.8181, p < 0.001) and the PE-IUGR group (mean = -1.2583, p < 0.001) compared to control group (mean = -0.0924).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have demonstrated increased placental expression of Ang-2 and Tie-2 along with lower expression levels of Ang-1 in pregnancies with PE and PE-IUGR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The angiopoietin axis seems to be disrupted in PE pregnancies. Whether the results of this study represent the angiogenic imbalance observed in PE pregnancies or they are part of the pathophysiology of this condition has to be further investigated.
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Athens Medical School, Alexandra Hospital, Athens, Greece; Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, Greece. Electronic address: d.kappou@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kappou
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University Hospital of Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sifakis
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Virology, University of Crete, Medical School, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Androutsopoulos
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Pathology, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Konstantinidou
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Virology, University of Crete, Medical School, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Spandidos
authors.affiliation: 1st Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Athens Medical School, Alexandra Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papantoniou
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D042683:Angiopoietin-1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D042702:Angiopoietin-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C467630:ANGPT1 protein, human; C586513:ANGPT2 protein, human; D042683:Angiopoietin-1; D042702:Angiopoietin-2; D042787:Receptor, TIE-2
keywords: Angiogenesis; Angiopoietin-1; Angiopoietin-2; Placenta; Preeclampsia; Tie-2