PP077. New prognostic marker for the risk to develop early-onset preeclampsia

ESM-1 plays a role in the regulation of angiogenesis and is released by activated endothelial cells.

To test the hypothesized that ESM-1 is increased in preeclampsia (PE).

Plasma samples from high risk pregnancies divided in 23 healthy (CON), 11 severe early-onset PE (SE) and 7 severe late-onset PE (SL) pregnancies were collected at regular intervals between week 12 and birth. ESM-1 was measured by ELISA.

(see figure) Between GA week 24 and birth, ESM-1 concentrations were significantly increased in both early and late preeclampsia compared to controls (Mann Whitney, p<0.05). Surprisingly, the concentration of ESM-1 also differed between the three groups at weeks 12 and 16. The ESM-1 concentration of healthy pregnancies (mean±SEM:1857±861pg/ml) and those that developed severe late-onset PE (1298±371pg/ml) are comparable, but in those pregnancies that develop severe early-onset PE, the concentration (410±355pg/ml) is significantly lower as compared with healthy pregnancies.

ESM-1 concentrations are increased during early and late severe preeclampsia, which may be due to endothelial cell activation in these conditions. Interestingly, since ESM-1 is decreased at 12-16 weeks in patients that later on develop early onset severe PE, it might be a prognostic marker which can determine the risk of women to develop severe early-onset PE already as early as 12 to 16 weeks of gestation.