title: Maternal plasma concentrations of the placental specific sFLT-1 variant, sFLT-1 e15a, in fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  sFLT-1 e15a is a recently described sFlt-1 variant that is placental and primate specific. As such, it may have potential as a biomarker. Using a newly developed ELISA, we measured maternal plasma sFLT-1 e15a levels in women with fetal growth restriction and pre-eclampsia.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a nested case-control study where we measured total sFLT-1 and sFLT-1 e15a plasma protein concentrations. Samples, selected from a prospective cohort study, consisted of 87 healthy controls, 11 cases that developed term preeclampsia and 20 cases where there was fetal growth restriction. We also measured sFLT-1 and sFLT-1 e15a plasma concentrations in a separate cohort: 15 cases of preterm preeclampsia and 24 healthy controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prospective case-control cohort demonstrated significantly increased sFLT-1 e15a among cases with term fetal growth restriction (p < 0.05). We also observed that total sFLT-1 (this ELISA indiscriminately detects all variants) was significantly increased in term preeclampsia (p < 0.0001), but not fetal growth restriction. The separate cohort of early-onset preeclamptics showed significantly increased sFLT-1 e15a levels (p < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Plasma sFLT-1 e15a is significantly increased in early-onset preeclampsia and term fetal growth restriction. Further assessment of the benefit for sFLT-1 e15a testing in prediction or diagnosis of these disease states is warranted.
authors.affiliation: a Translational Obstetric Group, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mercy Hospital for Women, The University of Melbourne , Heidelberg , Victoria , Australia.|b Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology , Monash Health, Monash University , Clayton , Victoria , Australia.
authors.forename: Kirsten R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.affiliation: a Translational Obstetric Group, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mercy Hospital for Women, The University of Melbourne , Heidelberg , Victoria , Australia.
authors.forename: Tu'uhevaha J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Kaitu'u-Lino
authors.affiliation: a Translational Obstetric Group, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mercy Hospital for Women, The University of Melbourne , Heidelberg , Victoria , Australia.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cannon
authors.affiliation: a Translational Obstetric Group, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mercy Hospital for Women, The University of Melbourne , Heidelberg , Victoria , Australia.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tuohey
authors.affiliation: c Mercy Hospital for Women , Heidelberg , Victoria , Australia , and.
authors.forename: Manarangi S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: De Silva
authors.affiliation: d Faculty of Medicine , Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Universidad de Los Andes , Santiago , Chile.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varas-Godoy
authors.affiliation: d Faculty of Medicine , Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Universidad de Los Andes , Santiago , Chile.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Acuña
authors.affiliation: d Faculty of Medicine , Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Universidad de Los Andes , Santiago , Chile.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Galaz
authors.affiliation: a Translational Obstetric Group, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mercy Hospital for Women, The University of Melbourne , Heidelberg , Victoria , Australia.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.affiliation: d Faculty of Medicine , Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Universidad de Los Andes , Santiago , Chile.
authors.forename: Sebastián E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Illanes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010920:Placenta / Q000378:metabolism*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C501162:FLT1 protein, human; D040281:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1
keywords: Anti-angiogenic; pre-eclampsia; pregnancy; sFLT-1 variant; small for gestational age