Pre-eclampsia with fetal growth restriction: placental and serum activin A and inhibin A levels

Abstract

Activin A (βAβA) and inhibin A (αβA) are dimeric glycoproteins secreted from early to term pregnancy in the maternal circulation. They circulate in higher amounts in women withgestational hypertension and/or pre-eclampsia, the most important gestational diseases also causing fetal growth restriction (FGR). Since no data are available in patients with pre-eclampsia and superimposedFGR, by using two-site immunoassays we evaluated serum activin A and inhibin A levels in serum samples collected from: healthy normotensive pregnant controls (n = 42); and women with pre-eclampsiawith (n = 19) or without superimposed FGR (n = 21). In addition, by quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction the changes of α- and βA-subunit mRNA expressionin placentas collected from healthy controls (n = 7) and pre-eclamptic pregnancies with (n = 6) or without (n = 6) superimposed FGR was also investigated. Activin A and inhibin A serum levels were significantlyhigher in pre-eclampsia, and the presence of FGR did not significantly modify these concentrations. Similarly, inhibin-subunit mRNA levels in placentas from pre-eclampsia were significantly higher thanin controls, and FGR did not significantly affect this expression. The present data suggest that the increased placental expression of inhibin subunit mRNAs is part of the mechanism leading to increasedserum activin A and inhibin A levels.