Placental growth factor and soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 in diabetic pregnancy: A possible relation to distal villous immaturity

Shereen A. El-Tarhouny^1,2, Shaima M. Almasry^3,4, Amr K. Elfayomy^5,6, Hussam Baghdadi¹ and Fawzia A. Habib<sup>5

1</sup>Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia, ²Department of Medical Biochemistry, Zagazig University, Egypt, ³Department of Anatomy, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia, ⁴Department of Anatomy, Almansoura University, Egypt, ⁵Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia and ⁶Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Zagazig University, Egypt.

Offprint requests to: Shaima Mohamad Almasry, Anatomy and Embryology Department, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, Saudi Arabia. e-mail: shaima.masry@yahoo.com


Summary. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of chorionic distal villous immaturity (DVI) in overt diabetic/gestational diabetic (OD/GD) women compared with normoglycemic ones and to analyze the relation of DVI index (DVII) to placental growth factor (PlGF) and soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1). Three groups were studied; normoglycemics (n=21), OD (n=17) and GD (n=20). Maternal blood samples were evaluated regarding serum levels of PlGF and sFlt-1. Immunohistochemical methodologies were employed in term placentae of all subjects to assess DVII and area% of PlGF and sFlt-1 immunostaining. We found that mean Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is 5.22±0.15 in normoglycemics, 6.2±0.3 in OD, and 5.70±0.23 in GD with significant differences between groups (p=0.012). DVII was significantly higher in OD (66.6±4.7) and GD (72.4±4.5) compared to controls (11.6±2.5; p=0.000). Healthy women have significantly lower levels of PlGF (86.6±14.5) compared to OD (166.6±22.4, p=0.000) and GD (150.3±23.97, p=0.000) and their placentae expressed a significantly lower area% of PlGF (6.5±0.8) compared to OD (14.8±1.0, p=0.000) and GD (18.8±1.3, p=0.000). Also, normoglycemic women have significantly lower levels of sFlt-1 (108.9±12.1) compared to OD (226.5±18.6, p=0.000) or GD (197.2±16.8, p=0.000) and their placentae expressed a significantly lower area% of sFlt-1 (3.2±0.3) compared to OD (15.4±1.7, p=0.000) and GD (16.9±1.2, p=0.000). There was significant correlation between DVII and both serum level and area% of PlGF and sFlt-1 expression in the 3 groups. This study provided a new score for evaluating DVI in normal and diabetic placentae and suggested a role for PlGF and sFlt-1 in regulation of DVI in diabetic pregnancies. Histol Histopathol 29, 259-272 (2014)

Key words: DVI, PlGF, sFlt-1, Diabetic pregnancy

DOI: 10.14670/HH-29.259