Wilms’ Tumour 1 as biomarker in preeclampsia.
Preeclampsia. Biomarker. WT-1.
Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy multisystemic injury characterized associated to hypertension, since the 20th week of pregnancy. Other signal and symptoms may be present, including proteinuria, thrombocytopenia, and/or hemolysis, kidney and liver injury, epigastric pain, headache and visual injuries. According to the moment of onset, PE may be classified in early or late, with different associated pathophysiological processes. In recent years, studies of PE related kidney damage have shown an association with podocytes. Therefore, podocyte biomarkers, such as Wilms’ Tumour 1 (WT-1), have been studied. Given this, the present study sought to evaluate the expression of WT-1, present in urinary extracellular vesicles (EVs), in order to investigate its potential as a biomarker in pre-eclampsia. 23 pregnant women with preeclampsia and 9 normotensive pregnant women were included in the study. Pregnant women with PE were also classified according to the period of development of PE, as well as whether they had resistant hypertension or not. Quantification of WT-1 present in EVs was performed by Western-blot, after isolation of the vesicles by ultracentrifugation. In addition, serum biochemical parameters were determined and demographic data was collected to characterize the studied population. Although significant differences were found for WT-1 in the PE groups compared to the control group, no difference was observed between the PE groups. Thus, it is suggested that WT-1 has potential as a disease marker.