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. 2022 Dec 22:13:1024587.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.1024587. eCollection 2022.

Reduced expression in preterm birth of sFLT-1 and PlGF with a high sFLT-1/PlGF ratio in extracellular vesicles suggests a potential biomarker

Sama Hussein  1 , Weina Ju  1 , Stephanie Pizzella  2 , Michael Flory  1 , Chu Chu  1 , Yong Wang  2 , Nanbert Zhong  1
Affiliations

Reduced expression in preterm birth of sFLT-1 and PlGF with a high sFLT-1/PlGF ratio in extracellular vesicles suggests a potential biomarker

Sama Hussein et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Preterm birth may have a pathological impact on intrauterine development of the fetal brain, resulting in developmental disabilities. In this study, we examine the expression of soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFLT-1) and placental growth factor (PlGF), which is one of the vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs), as these play a key role in angiogenesis; in particular, we examine their effect on the sFLT-1/PlGF ratio in cases of preterm birth as compared to typical pregnancies. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed on samples of maternal-derived plasma and extracellular vesicles-exosomes (EVs-EXs) isolated at the third trimester, consisting of 17 samples from cases of preterm birth and 38 control cases. Our results showed that both sFLT-1 (P=0.0014) and PlGF (P=0.0032) were significantly downregulated in cases of preterm birth compared to controls, while the sFLT-1/PIGF ratio was significantly (P=0.0008) increased in EVs-EXs, but not in maternal plasma. Our results suggest that this reduced expression of sFLT-1 and PlGF with an elevated sFLT-1/PlGF ratio in EVs-EXs may represent a potential biomarker for prediction of PTB.

Keywords: PTB; biomarker; exosomes (EX); extracellular vehicles (EVs); placental growth factor; preterm (birth); sFlt-1.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Boxplots overlaid with scatterplots showing median sFLT-1, PlGF, and sFLT1/PlGF ratio in maternal plasma, comparing preterm birth (PTB) and controls (Ctrl). (A) sFLT-1 in PTB (0.3385) vs. Ctrl (0.3918), (B) PlGF in PTB (0.0688) vs. Ctrl (0.0833), and (C) sFLT-1/PlGF ratio in PTB (4.9779) vs. Ctrl (5.2004) showed that sFLT-1, PIGF and sFLT-1/PlGF were not significant in compared to Ctrl groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Boxplots overlaid with scatterplots showing median sFLT-1 and PlGF with/without normalization to CD9, and sFLT1/PlGF ratio, each in EVs-EXs, comparing preterm birth (PTB) and controls (Ctrl). (A) sFLT-1 in PTB (0.1733) vs. Ctrl (0.2001), (B) PlGF in PTB (0.1292) vs. Ctrl (0.3345), (C) PlGF/CD9 in PTB (1.2857) vs. Ctrl (4.3520), (D) sFLT-1/CD9 in PTB (1.9224) vs. Ctrl (2.6671), and (E) sFLT-1/PlGF ratio in PTB (0.9578) vs. Ctrl (0.5226). As illustrated, sFLT-1 and PlGF are significantly lower in PTB (p<0.05), while the sFLT-1/PlGF ratio is significantly higher (p<0.05) in PTB compared to the Ctrl group.
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