Preeclamptic decidual microvascular endothelial cells express lower levels of matrix metalloproteinase-1 than normals.

In preeclampsia, invasion of intrauterine decidual blood vessels by placental cytotrophoblasts is significantly reduced. This study examined the secretion of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) by cultured human decidual endothelial cells from normal (NDEC) and preeclamptic (PEDEC) pregnancies. MMPs secreted into the culture medium were measured using zymography, Western blotting, and ELISA. Results were confirmed by Northern analysis. Phorbol myristate acetate, known to induce protease activity in other endothelial cell populations, stimulated MMP1, MMP9, and TIMP1 secretion in both NDEC and PEDEC. Neither tumor necrosis factor-alpha nor transforming growth factor-beta, both thought to have significant roles in the control of placentation, affected MMP secretion. MMP9 and TIMP1 levels were similar between the two cell types; however, MMP1 secretion was markedly different between the cell types. NDEC expressed higher levels of MMP1 under both basal (160 +/- 32 ng/10(6) cells) and stimulated (275 +/- 50) conditions compared to PEDEC (32 +/- 24 and 70 +/- 53, respectively). The lower MMP1 expression of decidual endothelial cells from preeclamptic women may inhibit endovascular invasion by cytotrophoblasts. These findings may, at least partly, explain the relative failure of trophoblasts to invade maternal decidual blood vessels in preeclamptic pregnancy.