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Lee, Yang, Park, Hong, Oh, Park, Chun, and Kim: The association of serum placental growth factor with pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia and small for gestational age
Original Article
Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2012; 55(11): 797-803.

Published online: 16 November 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5468/KJOG.2012.55.11.797

The association of serum placental growth factor with pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia and small for gestational age

Je Yeon Lee, MD1, Ga Young Yang, MD1, So Yeon Park, MD1, Ki-Sook Hong, MD2, Se Jin Oh, MD2, Mi Hye Park, MD1, 3, Sun Hee Chun, MD1, 3, Young Ju Kim, MD1, 3

1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

2Department of Laboratory Medicine, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

3Medical Research Institute, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Young Ju Kim, MD. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, 1071 Anyangcheon-ro, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul 158-710, Korea. Tel: +82-2-2650-5029, Fax: +82-2-2647-9860, kkyj@ewha.ac.kr

Received 9 April 2012       Revised 7 September 2012       Accepted 10 September 2012

Copyright © 2012. Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objective

Placental growth factor (PlGF) is one of the many angiogenic factors, which is decreased in placenta and serum during preeclampsia (PE) and also associated with pregnancies complicated by small for gestational age. In this study, we compared serum PlGF levels with different groups (controls, PE patients, pregnant women with small for gestational age [SGA]) and evaluated the usefulness of PlGF for diagnosis.

Methods

Serum samples were collected at the time of delivery from 40 women with uncomplicated pregnancies, 30 women with PE, 30 women with pregnancies complicated by SGA fetuses. Serum PlGF level was measured in all the samples using Triage PlGF test. We used the Kruskal-Wallis test and receiver operator characteristic curve analysis.

Results

Maternal serum PlGF concentrations in pregnancies complicated by PE (21.17 ± 15.27 pg/mL) were significantly lower than those in uncomplicated pregnancies (133.70 ± 158.80 pg/mL, P<0.01) and PlGF concentrations were decreased in pregnancies complicated by SGA fetuses (95.65 ± 210.36 pg/mL) compared with control group, but there was no statistically significant difference.

Conclusion

Decreased PlGF concentrations were observed in pregnancies complicated by PE and SGA. PlGF concentrations in pregnancies complicated by PE was significantly lower than those in uncomplicated pregnancies. By further prospective investigation, we may expect that the PlGF levels during pregnancy will be a marker to identify women at risk for the development of PE and SGA.

Keywords: Pre-eclampsia, Small-for-gestational age, Placental growth factor

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1
Log 10 PlGF concentrations with gestational age in control women, pregnancies with SGA and PE. PlGF, placental growth factor; PE, preeclampsia; SGA, small for gestational age.
kjog-55-797-g001
Fig. 2
Receiver operator characteristic curves for PlGF discrimination of control vs. PE (area under curve, 0.837; 95% CI, 0.724 to 0.951). Cutoff values of 65.1 pg/mL had 93.3% sensitivity and 68% specificity. PlGF, placental growth factor; PE, preeclampsia; SGA, small for gestational age; CI, confidence interval.
kjog-55-797-g002
Fig. 3
Receiver operator characteristic curves for PlGF discrimination of control vs. SGA (area under curve, 0.771; 95% CI, 0.622 to 0.919). Cutoff values of 59.25 pg/mL had 81.8% sensitivity and 68% specificity. PlGF, placental growth factor; PE, preeclampsia; SGA, small for gestational age; CI, confidence interval.
kjog-55-797-g003
Table 1
Clinical characteristics of study population
kjog-55-797-i001

Values are given as mean ± standard deviation and statistical significance was assessed by the Kruskal-Wallis test.

SGA, small for gestational age; BMI, body mass index; BW, birth weight; BP, blood pressure.

aP <0.05, Preeclampsia vs. SGA; bP <0.05, Control vs. Preeclampsia, Control vs. SGA; cP <0.05, Control vs. Preeclampsia, Control vs. SGA, Preeclampsia vs. SGA; dP <0.05, Control vs. Preeclampsia, Preeclampsia vs. SGA.

Table 2
Serum PlGF concentrations of the study groups
kjog-55-797-i002

Values are expressed as mean ± standard deviation.

PlGF, placental growth factor; PE, preeclampsia; SGA, small for gestational age.

aControls vs. PE, P <0.01; bSGA vs. PE, P <0.05.

Table 3
PlGF concentrations (pg/mL) by gestational age (reference cohort)
kjog-55-797-i003

PlGF, placental growth factor; GA, gestational age.

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