Angiogenic profile and smoking in the Finnish Genetics of Pre-eclampsia Consortium (FINNPEC) cohort

AbstractObjectives: The biological mechanism by which smoking reduces the risk of pre-eclampsia (PE) is unresolved. We studied serum levels of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1), placental growth factor (PlGF) and their ratio, in addition to soluble endoglin (sEng) in early and late pregnancy to ascertain whether these factors are altered in women who smoke.Subjects and methods: First trimester serum samples were available from 217 women who later developed PE and 238 women who did not develop PE. Second/third trimester serum samples were available from 174 PE and 54 non-PE women.Results: PE women who smoked during pregnancy had elevated first trimester concentrations of serum PlGF [geometric mean (95% CI): 39.8 (32.6–48.5) pg/ml, p = .001] and reduced sEng concentration [5.0 (4.6–5.6) ng/ml, p = .047] compared to PE non-smokers [30.0 (28.1–32.1) pg/ml and 6.1 (5.9–6.4) ng/ml, respectively]. Non-smoking women in the PE group had the highest sFlt-1/PlGF ratio in early and late pregnancy.Conclusion...