Is decidua affected in gestational hypertension? Indication by elevated PP14 levels.

The serum concentration of placental protein 14 (PP14) was measured by radioimmunoassay in 129 apparently healthy pregnant women at 33-40 weeks, and the results were compared with those of 40 women with gestational hypertension either with or without proteinuria at similar weeks. In normal pregnancy, maternal serum PP14 levels decreased towards term. Therefore, the results were expressed as multiples of the normal median for each week. In gestational hypertension, the values were higher than normal (p less than 0.001): they were above the normal median in 32 (80%) cases (p less than 0.005), and above the normal 90th percentile in 15 (38%) cases (p less than 0.001). The presence or absence of proteinuria did not affect the result. Since recent findings suggest that PP14 is synthesized by late pregnancy decidua and not by the placenta, our results suggest that decidua may be affected in gestational hypertension.