title: Placental autotaxin expression is diminished in women with pre-eclampsia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a member of a new class of lipid mediators and exerts varied physiological and pathological functions. The secreted protein, autotaxin (ATX), is a key enzymatic determinant of local LPA production. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the potential involvement of the placental ATX-LPA system in pre-eclampsia (PE).
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared human placental ATX mRNA expression in pregnancies complicated by severe PE with that in healthy placentas using real-time polymerase chain reaction. We further assessed whether these expression levels were associated with disease-onset patterns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Placental transcription of ATX increased progressively during normal pregnancy. In the analysis for pre-eclamptic placentas, the placental ATX expression in the early-onset group, but not in late-onset group, was significantly lower compared to normal controls. Multiple regression analysis revealed that occurrence of early-onset PE, but not late-onset PE, was a variable that was significantly associated with the placental ATX expression level.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings support our previous work showing reduced ATX antigen levels in the peripheral blood of pre-eclamptic women. A disturbance in placental ATX production may be linked to poor placental development and systemic maternal symptoms in early-onset PE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Mayuko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagamatsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Danny J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Schust
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawai-Iwasawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawana
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Osuga
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Junken
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yatomi
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D010929:Placentation / Q000502:physiology*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D014327:Trophoblasts / Q000378:metabolism; D000099189:Lysophospholipase D
chemical_list: D010727:Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases; D000099189:Lysophospholipase D
keywords: autotaxin; lysophosphatidic acid; placenta; pre-eclampsia; pregnancy