RGD Reference Report - Elevated placental soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 inhibits angiogenesis in preeclampsia. - Rat Genome Database

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Elevated placental soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 inhibits angiogenesis in preeclampsia.

Authors: Ahmad, S  Ahmed, A 
Citation: Ahmad S and Ahmed A, Circ Res. 2004 Oct 29;95(9):884-91. Epub 2004 Oct 7.
RGD ID: 1582493
Pubmed: PMID:15472115   (View Abstract at PubMed)
DOI: DOI:10.1161/01.RES.0000147365.86159.f5   (Journal Full-text)

Preeclampsia is an inflammatory disorder in which serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its soluble receptor-1 (sVEGFR-1, also known as sFlt-1) are elevated. We hypothesize that VEGF and placenta growth factor (PlGF) are dysregulated in preeclampsia due to high levels of sVEGFR-1, which leads to impaired placental angiogenesis. Analysis of supernatants taken from preeclamptic placental villous explants showed a four-fold increase in sVEGFR-1 than normal pregnancies, suggesting that villous explants in vitro retain a hypoxia memory reflecting long-term fetal programming. The relative ratios of VEGF to sVEGFR-1 and PlGF to sVEGFR-1 released from explants decreased by 53% and 70%, respectively, in preeclampsia compared with normal pregnancies. Exposure of normal villous explants to hypoxia increased sVEGFR-1 release compared with tissue normoxia (P<0.001), as did stimulation with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (P<0.01). Conditioned medium (CM) from normal villous explants induced endothelial cell migration and in vitro tube formation, which were both attenuated by pre-incubation with exogenous sVEGFR-1 (P<0.001). In contrast, endothelial cells treated with preeclamptic CM showed substantially reduced angiogenesis compared with normal CM (P<0.001), which was not further decreased by the addition of exogenous sVEGFR-1, indicating a saturation of the soluble receptor. Removal of sVEGFR-1 by immunoprecipitation from preeclamptic CM significantly restored migration (P<0.001) and tube formation (P<0.001) to levels comparable to that induced by normal CM, demonstrating that elevated levels of sVEGFR-1 in preeclampsia are responsible for inhibiting angiogenesis. Our finding demonstrates the dysregulation of the VEGF/PlGF axis in preeclampsia and offers an entirely new therapeutic approach to its treatment.

RGD Manual Disease Annotations    Click to see Annotation Detail View
TermQualifierEvidenceWithReferenceNotesSourceOriginal Reference(s)
pre-eclampsia  IDA 1582493 RGD 
pre-eclampsia  ISOFLT1 (Homo sapiens)1582493; 1582493 RGD 

Objects Annotated

Genes (Rattus norvegicus)
Flt1  (Fms related receptor tyrosine kinase 1)

Genes (Mus musculus)
Flt1  (FMS-like tyrosine kinase 1)

Genes (Homo sapiens)
FLT1  (fms related receptor tyrosine kinase 1)


Additional Information