Rezanejhad Leila, Zolghadri Jaleh, Gharesi-Fard Behrouz
Infertility Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran, e-mail:
Iran J Immunol. 2013 Dec;10(4):238-46.
Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy specific syndrome that is associated with high maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Glucose regulated protein78 (GRP78) is an Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) protein which is expressed on the cell surfaces of trophoblast cells under stress or hypoxic condition. GRP78 has a role in aggressive behavior of invasive cells and may play a role in normal placentation.
To investigate the autoantibody against GRP78 in the sera of patients with PE and to assess the correlation between antibody and severity of the disease.
We evaluated the anti-GRP78 antibody within the sera of fifty pre-eclamptic (12 severe and 38 mild PE) and fifty healthy pregnant women using a home-made ELISA assay. Furthermore, western blot technique was used to assess the expression of GRP78 in placenta of healthy and pre-eclamptic women in their third trimester. The presence of anti-GRP78 antibody in the serum samples from pre-eclamptic and healthy women was also assessed.
GRP78 was expressed by placenta, and both healthy and pre-eclamptic women produced anti-GRP78 antibody. Although no significant difference was found between the pre-eclamptic and healthy women regarding the level of anti-GRP78 antibody, the difference between severe pre-eclamptic and healthy control women was statistically significant (p<0.003).
The findings of the present study indicated that measurement of anti-GRP78 antibody may provide a new marker for severe pre-eclampsia. Yet, future studies are required to confirm this notion.
子痫前期（PE）是一种与孕产妇和胎儿高发病率及死亡率相关的妊娠特异性综合征。葡萄糖调节蛋白78（GRP78）是一种内质网（ER）蛋白，在应激或缺氧条件下在滋养层细胞表面表达。GRP78在侵袭性细胞的侵袭行为中起作用，可能在正常胎盘形成中发挥作用。
研究子痫前期患者血清中抗GRP78自身抗体，并评估抗体与疾病严重程度之间的相关性。
我们使用自制的酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）法评估了50例子痫前期患者（12例重度和38例轻度PE）和50例健康孕妇血清中的抗GRP78抗体。此外，采用蛋白质印迹技术评估健康孕妇和子痫前期孕妇孕晚期胎盘组织中GRP78的表达。还评估了子痫前期患者和健康女性血清样本中抗GRP78抗体的存在情况。
胎盘表达GRP78，健康孕妇和子痫前期孕妇均产生抗GRP78抗体。虽然子痫前期患者和健康孕妇在抗GRP78抗体水平上没有显著差异，但重度子痫前期患者与健康对照女性之间的差异具有统计学意义（p<0.003）。
本研究结果表明，抗GRP78抗体的检测可能为重度子痫前期提供一种新的标志物。然而，需要进一步的研究来证实这一观点。
