Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is associated with platelet activation, which may be involved in its pathogenesis promoting coagulation and mediating inflammation. We investigated whether the platelet activation status together with the frequency of platelet-leukocyte aggregates/PLA and monocyte tissue factor/TF expression could be used as laboratorial biomarkers for PE diagnosis and prognosis.
Methods: Ninety-seven women were evaluated including severe PE/sPE (N=15), mild PE/mPE (N=20), normotensive pregnant/NP (N=31) and non-pregnant women/nonP (N=31). Platelet markers were analyzed by flow cytometry.
Results: Platelet counts and CD41a expression by platelets were lower in NP and sPE vs nonP. The expression of CD61 was lower during pregnancy. Altered balance of platelet marker expression was also observed in NP and sPE vs nonP. No significant differences in the PLA and TF expression by monocytes were observed among the groups. There are several correlations between platelet activation markers, especially in sPE, which suggest a relevant role of the hemostatic/immunological cross-talk in this disease.
Conclusions: PE is not associated with increased platelet activation markers. It cannot rule out a role of platelet activation in the PE pathophysiology. Despite those correlations, we did not find a putative laboratorial biomarker that could be useful by itself for PE diagnosis and prognosis.
Keywords: Leukocytes; Membrane glycoproteins; P-selectin; Platelet activation; Preeclampsia.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.