Prevalence of agonistic autoantibodies against the angiotensin II type 1 receptor and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 in a gestational age-matched case study.

We showed earlier that activating autoantibodies against the angiotensin II type 1 (AT(1)) receptor (AT1-AA) circulate in preeclamptic women. They may be involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Protein alignment suggests that the binding site for AT1-AAs is highly homologous to the capsid protein VP2 of parvovirus B19. We performed a prospective, nested, case-control study of 30 gestational age-matched women with preeclampsia and 30 normotensive pregnant women. We measured AT1-AA, soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1), and serum immunoglobulin G against parvovirus B19 proteins. AT1-AAs were present in 70% of preeclamptic patients and absent in 80% of controls. Prediction by AT1-AA was improved in late-onset preeclampsia. The discrimination for sFlt-1 was 96%. We did not find an interaction between sFlt-1 and AT1-AA. A human monoclonal immunoglobulin G antibody against parvovirus B19 VP2-protein showed a positive reaction in the AT1-AA bioassay, which could be blocked by an AT(1) receptor blocker, as well as by the epitope amino acid sequence. Immunoglobulin G against parvovirus B19 proteins was similarly distributed between preeclamptic patients and controls and had no significant importance. We detected significantly more AT1-AA in women with an immune response corresponding with parvovirus B19 infection corresponding with a distant viral infection associated with virus elimination. We concluded that AT1-AAs were common in patients with preeclampsia in a prospective case-control study, although sFlt-1 was a superior biomarker. AT1-AA may represent a better marker for late disease, whereas sFlt1 is a better marker for early onset disease.