Abstract
Introduction: Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is defined as the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) in serum, associated with several clinical manifestations like recurrent thrombosis (arterial, venous or small vessel), morbidity and blood disorders including gestational thrombocytopenia and hemolytic anemia. The most widely accepted criteria for diagnosing APS are the Sapporo criteria (derived from the International Symposium held in Sapporo, Japan in 1999 and subsequently revised in 2006). Current reports suggest that thrombotic mechanisms are not sufficient to explain the recurrent pregnancy loss associated with APS. Other pathogenic mechanisms may be involved, specifically those which can directly control trophoblast behavior causing alterations in the placental development. To date, there is no information about the protein levels in serum of women with pregnancy loss associated to APS.We hypothesize that some alterations in the plasmatic proteins levels may be a cause for the losses in these patients. In this study,weperformed aprotein profile of serum fromwomenwith recurrent pregnancy losses which may have or not aPL. Methods: 19 women with recurrent pregnancy loss, 4 of them under a treatment with enoxaparin and aspirin, were included in the study. Protein profiles from 30 serum samples were determined by using mass spectrum analysis: Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption and Ionization – Time Of Flight (SELDI-TOF) over an anion exchange Q10 chip, rehydrated with a Tris–buffer pH 9. For the analysis, samples were divided into positive and negative for aPL. Results: The average protein concentration in the serum samples was 88.5mg/ml. Levels of 8 small proteins (2–20kDa, including one transthyretin isoform) and6 large proteins (20–200kDa) were found differentially expressed in aPL positive and negative samples. However, we could not find any difference between levels in women before and after anti-thrombotic treatment. Conclusions:Among thealteredproteins in aPLpositive samples, we found higher expression of one transthyretin isoform and changes of other not yet identified proteins. This study confirmed our hypothesis to relate protein profiles with APS and the importance of their analysis in the search of biomarkers of this syndrome. Funding source: Alvarez A was supported by the Boehringer Ingelheim Funds for a travel allowance.
Published Version
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