Decrease and dysfunction of endothelial progenitor cells in umbilical cord blood with maternal pre-eclampsia

作者:Xia, Liang; Zhou, Xin P.; Zhu, Jun H.; Xie, Xu D.; Zhang, Hao; Wang, Xing X.; Chen, Jun Z.*; Jian, Sun
来源:Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research, 2007, 33(4): 465-474.
DOI:10.1111/j.1447-0756.2007.00555.x

摘要

Background: The pre-eclampsia is characterized by placental defective angiogenesis and maternal vascular/enclothelial dysfunction. Recently, the decrease and senescence of endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) has been observed in maternal circulation with pre-eclampsia. Given the essential involvement of EPC in neovascularization and reendothelialization, we investigate whether or not the depletion of EPC is existent in placental/fetal circulation with maternal pre-eclampsia. @@@ Methods: Samples of venous cord blood were collected during the labor of preeclamptic mothers (n = 14) and normotensive controls (n = 10). Circulating EPC were enumerated as AC133+/KDR+ cells via fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis. Additionally, EPC were expanded in vitro and identified by DiI-acLDL uptake and lectin staining by direct fluorescent staining under a laser scanning confocal microscope. EPC proliferation, migration and vasculogenesis activities were determined by MTT, modified Boyden chamber assay and in vitro vasculogenensis assay. @@@ Result: The placental/fetal circulating EPC numbers were significantly decreased in the pre-eclampsia group compared with the control (median, 200; range, 100-440 cells/mL vs 390; 270-440 cells/mL, P < 0.001), and after in vitro cultivation the numbers of EPC also decreased in pre-eclampsia group (19.5; 5.0-32.0 vs 39.5; 31.2-52.0 EPC/x200 field; P < 0.001). Both circulating EPC and cultivated EPC were inversely correlated with cord blood level of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1). In addition, the EPC from patients with pre-eclampsia were significantly impaired in their proliferation, migration and vasculogenesis capacities. @@@ Conclusion: The present study documented the decrease and dysfunction of placental/fetal circulating EPC in patients with pre-eclampsia. The alteration is probably associated with the increased sFlt-1 levels in the umbilical cord blood.