Tumor necrosis factor-alpha soluble receptor p55 (sTNFp55) and risk of preeclampsia in Peruvian women

We conducted a large case-control study to assess the risk of preeclampsia with elevated sTNFp55 concentrations (markers of excessive TNF-alpha releas e) in Peruvian women. A total of 125 women with preeclampsia and 179 normot ensive women were included in a study conducted during the period, June 199 7 through January 1998, Antepartum (third-trimester) plasma sTNFp55 was mea sured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Mean plasma sTNFp55 concentrati ons were 32.4% higher among preeclampsia cases (920.1 +/- 30.4 pg/ml) as co mpared with controls (694.8 +/- 15.0 pg/ml, Student's t-test P < 0.001), Th ere was a strong linear increase in risk of preeclampsia with increasing co ncentrations of sTNFp55 (linear trend P-value <0.001). After adjusting for confounding factors, women in the highest quartile experienced a 10-fold in creased risk of preeclampsia as compared with women in the lowest quartile (adjusted odds ratio, 10.3; 95% confidence interval, 4.1-25.9). Compared wi th women in the highest quartile. women in the second and third quartiles e xperienced a 3-fold or greater increased risk of preeclampsia (adjusted odd s ratios were 3.1 and 3.8, respectively). Excessive TNF-alpha release (as m easured by the detection of the soluble receptor sTNFp55 in maternal plasma collected before delivery) is increased in pregnancies complicated by pree clampsia as compared with normotensive pregnancies. These findings are cons istent with most previous studies. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. A ll rights reserved.