Syncytin-2: a potential early marker of preeclampsia. Revue international des Sciences Appliquées

Abstract

Syncytin-2 is an envelope protein that plays a key role in placental formation through the fusion of villous cytotrophoblasts (CTV), which leads to the formation of the syncytiotrophoblast (ST). The syncytiotrophoblast plays a key role in the function of the placenta. Defects in syncytiotrophoblast formation are associated with marked reduction in the expression of syncytin-2 and with placental pathologies such as preeclampsia (PE). Pre-eclampsia is responsible for a large number of maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity. However, there is no biomarker allowing an early diagnosis of PE. Since syncytin-2 is involved in placental formation, we decided to compare the abundance of syncytin-2 in serum derived-exosomes of pregnant women with pre-eclampsia vs normal pregnant women. We selected 44 pregnant women in a pre-eclampsia cohort at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire-Mère et Enfant de la Lagune (CHU-MEL) in Cotonou. Women were recruited at the beginning of their pregnancy for the first 20 weeks of gestation and included 22 normal pregnant women and 22 pregnant women with PE. Serum derived-exosomes were purified and their content was analyzed. Lower abundance in syncytin-2 was measured in serum derived-exosomes of pregnant women with PE compared to those of normal pregnant women. This difference was observed between 9.6 and 13 weeks of gestation (p<0.05). This study confirms that syncytin-2 is a promising marker for early diagnosis of pre-eclampsia.