Effects of anti-endothelial cell antibody in pre-eclampsia on endothelin-1 release from cultured endothelial cells

In order to investigate the pathophysiological significance of anti-endothelial cell antibody (AECA) in pre-eclampsia, the effects of AECA on endothelin-1 (ET-1) and prostaglandin I2 (PGI2) release from cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) was evaluated. Serum samples were taken from 85 pre-eclamptic and 20 normal pregnant women. Anti-endothelial cell antibody was measured by ELISA using HUVEC. The release of ET-1 and 6-keto PGF1-alpha, a stable metabolite of PGI2, from HUVEC were evaluated after incubation with IgG-AECA-positive sera and IgG isolated from AECA-positive sera. The incidence of IgG- and IgM-AECA was 24.7 and 8.2%, respectively. The release of ET-1, in the medium containing IgG-AECA-positive sera was significantly greater than in the medium containing IgG-AECA-negative sera. There was significant correlation between the levels of IgG-AECA and the release of ET-1 from endothelial cells. The ET-1 release by IgG isolated from AECA-positive sera was greater than that from AECA-negative sera. However, the release of 6-keto PGF1-alpha by AECA-positive sera was not significantly different from that of AECA-negative sera. It is concluded that IgG-AECA in pre-eclampsia increases ET-1 release from endothelial cells and that AECA may affect local vascular function in this disorder.