Chapters authored
Angiogenesis-Related Factors in Early Pregnancy Loss
The habitual loss of early pregnancy is one of the major problems of obstetrics nowadays, provided that the cause of more than 50% of all early pregnancy losses is unknown. Adequate angiogenesis is one of the main indicators of proper formation of placental system, making the basis of fetal life support. The objective description of angiogenesis in physiological development of pregnancy and in pathological conditions is complicated by the difficulties in obtaining and characterizing placental tissue in early pregnancy. Thus, angiogenesis‐related factors are promising indicators to characterize angiogenesis in pregnancy. This chapter draws attention to alteration in angiogenesis‐related factors in peripheral blood of patients with habitual early pregnancy losses. Investigation of factors (vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), sFlt‐1, sKDR, metalloproteinase (MMP)‐2, MMP‐9, tissue inhibitor (TIMP)‐1, TIMP‐2 and placental growth factor (PLGF)), which specifically and nonspecifically regulate angiogenesis in pregnancy, was performed in the most significant terms for placentogenesis: 6 weeks, 7–8 weeks and 11–14 weeks of pregnancy. It was found that in a missed abortion there was a significant imbalance of angiogenesis‐related factors compared with normal pregnancy. These results reflect a disturbance of angiogenesis in a missed abortion and point to the importance of the studied factors in the pathogenesis of early pregnancy losses.
Part of the book: Physiologic and Pathologic Angiogenesis