Von Willebrand factor cleaving protease (VWFCP) activity in patients with preclampsia history. Preliminary results.

AMARAL MARÍA M; SANCHEZ LUCEROS , ANALÍA; FARÍAS, CRISTINA; CARBALLO, GONZALO; KEMPFER ANA C; LAZZARI, MARÍA A

Birmingham

Congreso; XIX CONGRESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY ON THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS; 2003

THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY ON THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS

The importance of VWFCP dysfunction had been demonstrated in various thrombotic microangiopathic disorders. Preeclampsia presents some features of thrombotic microangiopathies. In the present report, we evaluated the VWFCP activity in patients plasma with history of preeclampsia. We studied: Six women with past history of preeclampsia in previous pregnancies and five women in the late puerperium of a complicated pregnancy with preeclampsia. Seventeen non pregnant normal women and 37 normal women in the late puerperium were studied as controls. Nulliparous normal women were excluded. VWFCP activity (%) was assayed using a purified VWF as substrate. The VWF conformational change was made by dialysis against urea, with the previous activation of the enzyme by Ba2+. An ELISA plate was used to measure residual collagen-binding activity of VWF. Women with preeclampsia history in previous pregnancies showed a significantly lower mean of VWFCP activity than women with history of normal pregnancies (71 ± 19% vs. 83 ± 17%, P = 0.032). Mean VWFCP activity of women in the late puerperium of pregnancy with preeclampsia was significantly lower than mean protease activity of women in a normal late puerperium (67 ± 14 vs. 103 ± 25, P = 0.002). Our findings suggest that prospective studies during pregnancy are needed to ascertain the role of VWFCP as a risk marker of thrombotic microangiopathies during pregnancy.