Introduction: Preeclampsia affects 5% of all pregnancies and is a significant cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortalityworldwide. A clinically useful screening test that can predict the development of preeclampsia at an early stage is urgently needed. The detection of podocyturia by immunohistochemistry following cell culture has been noted as a sensitive and specific marker for preeclampsia. However, this method is laborious and carries the risk of cell-culture contamination.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of qPCR as a rapid and sensitive method to detect podocyturia in women with preeclampsia.
Methods: Mid-stream urine samples were collected from preeclamptic [1] (n=35), healthy pregnant matched for gestational age (n=34), and healthy non-pregnant (n=12) women. mRNA was isolated using the Trizol method. qPCR analysis was performed for nephrin, VEGF, podocin, GAPDH and megalin transcripts. A ROC-curve analysis was performed.
Results: Significantly elevated mRNA expression levels of nephrin, podocin and VEGF were detected in preeclamptic women compared to healthy pregnant and healthy non-pregnant controls. A positive correlation (ρ=0.82, p<0.0001) was observed between nephrin and VEGF mRNA expression in preeclamptic women. ROC curve analyses demonstrated a strong ability of this method to discriminate between the different study groups.
Conclusion: qPCR analysis of podocyte-specific molecules in urine samples is a rapid and reliable method to quantify podocyturia. We demonstrate that this method distinguishes preeclamptic patients from healthy controls at disease onset. This method may be a tool for the detection of preeclampsia at an earlier stage, thereby preventing maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality.
Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.