Serum anti-carbonic anhydrase II antibodies and oxidant-antioxidant balance in pre-eclampsia.

PROBLEM  The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of anti-carbonic anhydrase II antibodies (anti-CA II) antibodies in pre-eclampsia and the relationships between the autoantibodies, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total oxidant capacity (TOC), malondialdehyde (MDA) and oxidative stres index (OSI) parameters. METHOD OF STUDY  We studied 40 early and late onset pre-eclamptic patients and 40 healthy pregnant control and 39 healthy non-pregnant control subjects. Serum CA II antibodies, TAC and TOC, and MDA parameters were studied by ELISA. RESULTS  The mean values for TAC, TOC, OSI, MDA, and anti-CA II were significantly increased in patients with pre-eclampsia compared to the other groups. The anti-CA II antibody levels for the pregnant control subjects were 0.129 ± 0.04 and that for the pre-eclamptic patients were 0.282 ± 0.18. In this study, any absorbance value higher than 0.136, the mean absorbance + 2 S.D. of pregnant control subjects, was defined as positive. Positive results were obtained in 29 of 40 pre-eclamptic patients (72.5%). There were significant positive correlations between serum anti-CA II antibodies and TOC, MDA levels, and OSI levels. CONCLUSION  The results suggest that anti-CA II antibodies and impairment in oxidant-antioxidant balance may be involved in multifactorial etiology of pre-eclampsia.