Anti-endothelial cell antibody in preeclampsia: clinical findings and serum cytotoxicity to endothelial cell.

Abstract

The role of anti-endothelial cell antibody (AECA) in systemic vasculitis has been reported. One candidate which may disrupt vascular function is AECA. In order to investigate the role of AECA in preeclampsia, the incidence of AECA positive patients, the characteristics of the clinical findings of AECA positive patients and also the cytotoxicity of AECA positive serum for cultured endothelial cells was studied. Serum samples were taken from 57 preeclampsia (including 37 severe cases) and 46 normal pregnant women. The AECA were measured by ELISA using human umbilical vein endothelial cells. The cytotoxicity for cultured endothelial cells by test serum was measured by using 51Cr release assay. The incidence of IgG and IgM AECA were revealed in 26.3% and 10.5% of preeclampsia respectively. AECA was detected more frequently in severe (29.7%) than in mild preeclampsia (20.0%). In cases with severe proteinuria of greater than 200 mg/dl we detected a significantly higher incidence of AECA than in mild cases (p < 0.04). The incidence of AECA was not significantly increased in cases with severe hypertension or IUGR. The AECA positive sera had greater cytotoxic activity on endothelial cells than AECA negative sera (p < 0.03). The appearance of AECA is related to the severity of proteinuria and the cytotoxicity to endothelial cells by AECA positive sera may play a role in causing the endothelial damage in preeclampsia.