Circulating Chemerin Is Elevated in Women With Preeclampsia

Area of Science:

• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Reproductive Biology
• Biochemistry

Background:

• Preeclampsia is a severe pregnancy complication.
• Chemerin, an adipokine, is highly expressed in the placenta.
• This study investigates chemerin's potential as a preeclampsia biomarker.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate circulating chemerin as a predictive biomarker for preeclampsia.
• To assess chemerin and RARRES2 (chemerin gene) expression in preeclampsia.
• To explore the role of hypoxia in RARRES2 regulation.

Main Methods:

• Collected maternal plasma and placenta from women with and without preeclampsia.
• Differentiated human trophoblast stem cells under normoxia and hypoxia.
• Measured chemerin via ELISA and RARRES2 via RT-qPCR.

Main Results:

• Elevated circulating chemerin in early-onset, established, and pre-diagnosis preeclampsia.
• Increased placental chemerin and decreased placental RARRES2 in early-onset preeclampsia.
• RARRES2 downregulation in syncytiotrophoblast and extravillous trophoblasts; hypoxia increased RARRES2 in syncytiotrophoblast.

Conclusions:

• Circulating chemerin is elevated across different stages of preeclampsia.
• Placental RARRES2 is dysregulated in preeclampsia, potentially influenced by hypoxia.
• Chemerin shows promise as a preeclampsia biomarker, likely requiring combination with other markers.