Alteration of heat shock protein 20 expression in preeclamptic patients and its effect in vascular and coagulation function

Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-specific, multi-system disorder and the leading cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality in obstetrics worldwide. Excessive vasoconstriction and dysregulated coagulation function are closely associated with PE. Heat shock protein 20 (HSP20) is ubiquitously expressed under normal physiological conditions and has important roles in vascular dilatation and suppression of platelet aggregation. However, the role of HSP20 in the pathogenesis of PE remains unclear. In this study, we collected chorionic plate resistance arteries (CPAs) and serum from 118 healthy pregnant women and 80 women with PE and detected the levels of HSP20 and its phosphorylated form. Both HSP20 and phosphorylated HSP20 were downregulated in CPAs from women with PE. Comparison of the vasodilative ability of CPAs from the two groups showed impaired relaxation responses to acetyl choline in preeclamptic vessels. In addition to the reduced HSP20 in serum from women with PE, the platelet distribution width and mean platelet volume were also decreased, and the activated partial thromboplastin time and thromboplastin time were elevated. With regard to the vital roles of HSP20 in mediating vasorelaxation and coagulation function, the decreased HSP20 might contribute to the pathogenesis of PE.

Keywords

preeclampsia / heat shock protein 20 / vascular relaxation / coagulation-fibrinolytic system

References

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the funding support from the National Science and Technology Pillar Program of China during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period (Nos. 2014BAI 05B05, 81873843, 81672085, and 81701476), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81172464), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2017KFYXJJ102), and Guangdong Natural Scientific Foundation (Nos. 2015A030313889 and 2014A030313797).

Compliance with ethics guidelines

Fanfan Li, Mengzhou He, Meitao Yang, Yao Fan, Yun Chen, Xi Xia, Yin Xie, and Dongrui Deng declare no conflicts of interest. All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Declaration of Helsinki (1975), as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients included in the study.

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