Relationship between expression of hepatocyte grow factor and apoptosis of trophoblasts in hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy.

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and Fas in placentas of uncomplicated pregnant women and those with hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP), and elucidate the possible relationship between HGF and apoptosis of trophoblasts. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was undertaken to examine the concentration of HGF mRNA and Fas mRNA obtained from 34 cases of HDCP and 30 cases of uncomplicated pregnancy. The expression of HGF mRNA in mild preeclampsia, severe preeclampsia and eclampsia cases was significantly lower than that in the uncomplicated cases (0.43 ± 0.12, 0.38 ± 0.09, 0.19 ± 0.17 versus 0.67 ± 0.19, P < 0.05), while the expression of Fas mRNA in mild preeclampsia, severe preeclampsia and eclampisa cases was significantly higher than that in the uncomplicated cases (1.58 ± 0.26, 2.96 ± 0.14, 5.98 ± 1.17 versus 1.01 ± 0.36, P < 0.05). For HGF mRNA and Fas mRNA, there was no difference between gestational hypertension cases and control cases. Decreased HGF mRNA or increased Fas mRNA was found along with the progress of HDCP. Negative correlation was found between the expressions of HGF and Fas. These results indicate that HGF inhibits the apoptosis mediated by Fas, and the reduced expression of HGF in HDCP may be responsible for the apoptosis of trophoblasts.