OC15.06: *Endothelial damage and inflammation cell signalling triggered by pre‐eclampsia versus COVID‐19 in pregnancy

Abstract

To study endothelial damage and alteration in signalling pathways in endothelial cells exposed to sera from pregnant women with PE and COVID-19 in vitro. Sera samples were obtained from pregnant women with COVID-19 infection classified into mild (n=10) or severe (n=9) in addition to normotensive pregnancies as controls (n=10) and patients with PE (n=13). Endothelial cells were obtained from the human dermal microvascular endothelial cell line. Nuclei and deposits of ICAM-1and Von Willebrand factor (VWF) staining was performed, and micrographs were captured by fluorescent microscopy. The area covered by fluorescent ICAM-1 or VWF labelling was calculated and expressed as the average fold increase compared to controls. The effect of sera samples on the inflammation cell signalling pathways was assessed by the quantification of phospho-P38MAPK. Both COVID-19 and PE induced an overexpression of ICAM-1 and VWF on endothelial cells although the effect of pre-eclampsia was less pronounced than the one triggered by severe COVID-19 (p < 0.05). Exposure of endothelial cells to the sera of severe COVID-19 and PE had the capacity to activate inflammatory signalling pathways. Immunoblots showed an increase in the degree of phosphorylation of p38MAPK being both severe COVID-19 and PE statistically different from controls (p < 0.05) (figure 1). Both COVID-19 and PE trigger endothelial damage and induce the activation of inflammation cell signalling pathways in endothelial cells. The effect on cell adhesion and prothrombosis of severe COVID-19 is more pronounced than PE. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.