Preeclampsia (PE) is a medical condition characterized by high blood pressure and significant amounts of protein in urine of pregnant woman. If left untreated it can develop into eclampsia, life threatening occurance of seizures during pregnancy (Moffett and Hiby, 2007).
It appears likely that there are substances from the placenta that can cause endothelial dysfunction in the maternal blood vessels of susceptible women (Moffett and Hiby, 2007).
While blood pressure elevation is the most visible sign of the disease, it involves generalized damage to the maternal endothelium, kidney and liver with release of vasoconstrictive factors being a consequence of original damage ( Courtney Reynolds et al., 2006).
Abnormalities in the maternal immune system and insufficiency of gestational immune tolerance seem to play major roles in preeclampsia (Laresgoiti-Servitje et al., 2010).
T cell responses are upregulated by a complex network of activating and inhibitory signals (Chambers and Allison, 1999). The identification of a novel function of V- set and immunoglobulin domain-containing 4 gene (VSIG4 gene) showed that VSIG4 gene codes for a protein referred to as complement receptor of immunoglobulin super family (CRIg) (Langman and Cohn, 1993).
This protein is a receptor for the complement component 3(C3) fragments C3b , iC3b and has been implicated in the clearance of systemic pathogens and autologus cells (Helmy et al., 2006).
The activation of the complement system resulting in generation of product with pro-inflammatory properties has been observed in preeclampsia (Soto et al., 2010).
Platelet derived microparticles is the main source of functionally active tissue factor, the principal initiator of coagulation in vivo (Muller, 2003).
Moreover, carry pro-inflammatory lipid and membrane components consistuting a storage pool able to induce pro-apoptotic, inflammatory or thrombotic stimuli to the vessel(Van Wijk, 2003).
Microparticles are associated with thrombotic conditions and their increase had been observed in women with recurrent miscarriage, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth retardation and gestational hypertension (Shetty et al., 2013).
|
