Comparison of angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors in maternal and umbilical cord blood in early- and late-onset pre-eclampsia

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare maternal and umbilical cord serum levels of the angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors in early-and late-onset pre-eclamptic pregnancies as well as in normal pregnancies, which might have significant importance in the etiology of pre-eclampsia. Materials and Methods: This prospective case-control study was carried out with pre-eclamptic (early-onset, <= 34 weeks and late-onset, >34 weeks) and normal pregnant women. VEGF, PIGF, sFlt-1 and sEng levels in maternal and umbilical cord serum were measured before delivery and the findings were compared. Results: The study was conducted with 15 early-and 15 late-onset pre-eclampsia patients, and 17 patients with normal pregnancies. It was found that sEng levels were higher in the umbilical cord serum in the early-onset and in the maternal serum in the late-onset pre-eclampsia group than the control group (p < 0.05). No significant difference in any factor was observed between the early-and late-onset pre-eclampsia groups. Conclusion: In this study, the results showed that angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factor levels in maternal serum and umbilical cord serum may not be related to the time of onset of pre-eclampsia.