Objective: To determine the serum tenascin-C (TN-C) levels in cases with mild and severe preeclampsia.
Methods: Pregnant women were divided into three groups, namely healthy pregnants (Group 1, n = 20), pregnants with mild preeclampsia (Group 2, n = 20) and pregnants with severe preeclampsia (Group 3, n = 20). The groups were formed so as to match each other in terms of gestational week. From each pregnant woman, pre- and post-delivery blood samples were obtained to measure serum TN-C levels. The data were evaluated using the Kruskall-Wallis variance analysis. For the obtained values of p < 0.05, the groups were compared in pairs. A p value of < 0.017 was accepted as significant.
Results: In Groups 1, 2 and 3, the prepartum TN-C levels were 5.02 ± 0.4 µg/ml, 12.8 ± 2.9 µg/ml and 33.8 ± 11.7 µg/ml, and in the postpartum TN-C levels were 4.7 ± 0.1 µg/ml, 11.7 ± 1.8 µg/ml and 50.6 ± 33.8 µg/ml, respectively. There was a significant difference between the groups in terms of the prepartum and postpartum TN-C levels (p < 0.017, Mann-Whitney U [MWU] test). There was also a significant difference in the prepartum TN-C levels between Groups 2 and 3 (p < 0.017, MWU test).
Conclusions: The prepartum and postpartum TN-C levels were significantly higher in mild and severe preeclampsia than those in healthy pregnants.
Keywords: Cytokine; preeclampsia; tenascin-C.