Higher expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 in the placental tissues of pre-eclampsia pregnancies

Background: Pre-eclampsia, a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy is the main cause of fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality. Growing evidences suggest that placental oxidative stress involves in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. The HSP70 is a novel marker of oxidative stress which binds with high avidity to LOX-1. The aim of this study was to evaluate the co-expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 in the placental tissues of normotensive and pre-eclamptic pregnancies. Materials and methods: The placental tissues were collected from 35 healthy women with normal pregnancies and 33 women with pre-eclampsia disorder. Expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 on the placental tissues was examined by using immunohistochemistry technique. The intensity of the molecules' expression was determined by semi-quantitative scoring. Results: The 34.3% and 37.1% of the healthy women did not express the HSP70 and LOX-1 on their placenta, respectively. All pre-eclamptic patients expressed HSP70 and LOX-1 with various scores. Indeed, the majority of the pre-eclamptic subjects had >= 3+ scores of the expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 on their placenta (60.6% and 66.7%, respectively). The percentage of the >= 3+ scores of the expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 was significantly higher in patients than those in healthy women (p<0.0001 for both). Similarly, the majority of the pre-eclamptic subjects had >= 3+ scores of the co-expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 molecules (57.6%) which was significantly higher in patients than those in control group (p=0.0001). Conclusions: These results showed higher expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 in the placental tissues of pre-eclampsia patients which represent the possible contribution of these molecules in the disease pathogenesis. Further studies need to clarify their role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia disorder.