Abstract
An alteration in the maternal-fetal immunologic function has long been thought as a possible cause of preeclampsia. There are papers reporting that mothers produce antibodies against fetal antigens. Laminin is a basement membrane glycoprotein localized in the trophoblast and glomerulus. In order to investigate specific antibodies in preeclampsia, we attempted to demonstrate anti-laminin antibody and evaluate the relationships between anti-laminin antibody and severity and symptom of preeclampsia, in order to correlate them with pregnancy outcome. Detection of anti-laminin antibodies was performed by the immunoblot method. Thirty three cases of preeclampsia including 3 eclampsia, 10 normal pregnancy and 5 non-pregnant women were the subject of our study. Anti-laminin IgG antibody was detected in 50% of the severe cases, 26% of the mild cases and 67% of the eclampsia. Anti-laminin IgM antibody was detected in 21% of the severe cases, 11% of the mild cases and none of the eclampsia. Neither anti-laminin IgG nor anti-laminin IgM antibodies were detected in normal pregnancy and non-pregnant women. Anti-laminin antibody was found more frequently in cases with hypertention or proteinuria than in cases with edema. In cases which anti-laminin antibody was positive, higher percentages of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and premature labor were detected. High levels of immune complexes were detected in two out of 6 positive cases of antibodies. We found that autoantibody to laminin was detected in both mild and severe types of preeclampsia. And anti-laminin antibody was related to severity and symptoms, such as proteinuria and hypertension of preeclampsia and also to IUGR and premature labor. Anti-laminin antibody may affect the placenta and the kidney and may play a role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.
