Preliminary study on the role of human defensins, interleukins and PCSK9 in early and late preeclampsia

• Published in: Reproductive biology 2024-12, Vol.24 (4), p.100947, Article 100947
• Main Authors: Mennitti, Cristina, Sarno, Laura, Calvanese, Mariella, Gentile, Alessandro, Esposito, Giuseppina, Fulgione, Caterina, Orlandi, Giuliana, Angelino, Antonio, Scamardella, Giulia, Barretta, Ferdinando, Fimiani, Fabio, Cesaro, Arturo, Borrelli, Paola, Terracciano, Daniela, Pero, Raffaela, Calabrò, Paolo, Frisso, Giulia, Guida, Maurizio, Scudiero, Olga
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cytokines; Defensine; Immune system; PCSK9; Preeclampsia
• ISSN: 1642-431X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.repbio.2024.100947

The lack of reliable methods for preeclampsia (PE) early diagnosis limits the opportunities for timely prevention, diagnosis and treatment. This study aims to identify the alterations of biochemical parameters and the immune system activity to build a panel of markers that can support preeclampsia diagnosis. For this study, we recruited 30 pregnant women: 10 healthy pregnant women (CTR); 10 pregnant women with early preeclampsia (EP); 10 pregnant women with late preeclampsia (LP). We evaluated lipid profile and, by gene expression, we assessed PCSK9, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α and TGF-β. Moreover, we evaluated both the serum and gene levels of the defensins HBD-1, HBD-2, HBD-4 and HNP-1. Our results showed an increase in gene expression levels of IL-6 and IL-8 in EP compared to LP (IL-6: median 11.7 vs 3.3, p = 0.005; IL-8: median 634.1 vs 214.1, p = 0.013) and to CTR (IL-6: median 11.7 vs 0.5, p