Frontiers in Endocrinology (Dec 2022)

Reduced expression in preterm birth of sFLT-1 and PlGF with a high sFLT-1/PlGF ratio in extracellular vesicles suggests a potential biomarker

  • Sama Hussein,
  • Weina Ju,
  • Stephanie Pizzella,
  • Michael Flory,
  • Chu Chu,
  • Yong Wang,
  • Nanbert Zhong

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2022.1024587
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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Preterm birth may have a pathological impact on intrauterine development of the fetal brain, resulting in developmental disabilities. In this study, we examine the expression of soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFLT-1) and placental growth factor (PlGF), which is one of the vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs), as these play a key role in angiogenesis; in particular, we examine their effect on the sFLT-1/PlGF ratio in cases of preterm birth as compared to typical pregnancies. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed on samples of maternal-derived plasma and extracellular vesicles-exosomes (EVs-EXs) isolated at the third trimester, consisting of 17 samples from cases of preterm birth and 38 control cases. Our results showed that both sFLT-1 (P=0.0014) and PlGF (P=0.0032) were significantly downregulated in cases of preterm birth compared to controls, while the sFLT-1/PIGF ratio was significantly (P=0.0008) increased in EVs-EXs, but not in maternal plasma. Our results suggest that this reduced expression of sFLT-1 and PlGF with an elevated sFLT-1/PlGF ratio in EVs-EXs may represent a potential biomarker for prediction of PTB.

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