Lack of platelet activation reflected by circulating soluble glycoprotein V in pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a human pregnancy-specific disorder of unknown aetiology. Although the quantitative relationship between platelet aggregation in PE is not clearly defined yet, we aimed to investigate the possible relationship between PE and platelet glycoprotein V (GPV), which is an integral platelet membrane protein involved in the function of the GPIb-V-IX receptor. Fifty patients with PE and 37 normotensive pregnant women (controls) were enrolled in this study. Fasting blood samples were collected and soluble GPV (sGPV) levels were determined using a commercially available enzyme immunoassay. No statistically significant difference in sGPV was found between PE patients and control subjects. There was no correlation between sGPV and platelet counts or between pregnancy duration and platelet counts. Further clinical and experimental investigations are needed to elucidate the pathological processes involved in the development of PE in complicated pregnancies.