Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  2000 Nov;43(11):1967-1971.

Serum Concentrations of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor ( VEGF ) in Preeclamptic Women

• Cho YK
• Min HJ
• Park KH
• Choi H
• Kim BR
• Lee HK

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To assess whether there is correlation between serum concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) and development of preeclampsia. METHODS: The authors measured serum concentrations of VEGF in 18 preeclamptic women admitted to Sanggye Paik Hospital, Inje University from February 1999 to September 1999 and in 18 normotensive pregnant women matched in maternal age, maternal body weight, parity and gestational age. VEGF was measured with a sensitive and specific enzyme immunoassays. RESULTS: VEGF was detected in all pregnant women. The results of this study showed that the serum concentrations of VEGF are significantly higher in the preeclamptic women than in the normotensive pregnant women. The values of median and range of VEGF are 7.74 ng/ml and 0.5-35.94 ng/ml in the preeclamptic women, and 0.5 ng/ml and 0.5-2.16 ng/ml in the normotensive pregnant women, respectively. There is significant difference in serum concentrations of VEGF between two groups(p<0.001, Mann-Whitney U test). Positive correlations were noted between VEGF concentraions and the systolic and diastolic blood pressure(Systolic BP: r2=0.688, Diastolic BP: r2=0.722, Spearman rank test). CONCLUSION: The high serum concentration of VEGF is thought to be important in the development or pathophysiologic mechanism of preeclampsia. In the next study, the prospective analysis will be necessary to identify whether serum concentration of VEGF is abnormally high in early gestational pregnant women who are destined to preeclampsia.

Keyword

preeclampsia; vascular endothelial growth factor ( VEGF )

MeSH Terms

Body Weight
Female
Gestational Age
Humans
Immunoenzyme Techniques
Maternal Age
Parity
Pre-Eclampsia
Pregnant Women
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A*
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A