Evaluation of Angiogenic Factors (PlGF and sFlt-1) in Pre-eclampsia Diagnosis.

Objective:  Recent observations support the hypothesis that an imbalance between angiogenic factors has a fundamental role in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia and is responsible for the clinical manifestations of the disease. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and the best accuracy level of Soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), placental growth factor (PlGF), and sFlt-1/PlGF ratio in maternal serum and protein/creatinine ratio in urine sample to define the best cutoff point of these tests to discriminate between the patients with gestational hypertension and the patients with pre-eclampsia, to evaluate the possibility of using them as diagnostic methods.

Methods:  A prospective longitudinal study was performed, and blood samples were collected from 95 pregnant patients with hypertension to measure serum concentrations of biomarkers sFlt-1 and PlGF.