Placental leptin mRNA expression and serum leptin levels in pre-eclampsia associated with HIV infection

Abstract

Leptin, primarily produced by adipocytes, is implicated in the development of pre-eclampsia. This study examines placental leptin production and serum leptin levels in HIV infected and uninfected normotensive and pre-eclamptic pregnancies. Placental leptin production was analysed by RT-PCR and serum leptin levels by ELISA in normotensive (n = 90) and pre-eclamptic (n = 90) pregnancies which were further stratified by HIV status. Placental leptin production was higher in pre-eclampsia compared to normotensive pregnancies irrespective of HIV status (p = .04). Serum leptin was non-significantly raised in HIV uninfected (p = .42) but lower in HIV-infected (p = .03) pre-eclampsia. The latter had lower BMI (p = .007) and triceps skin-fold thickness (p < .001) than the HIV uninfected groups with a significant correlation between serum leptin and triceps skin-fold thickness (p < .001), indicative of less adipose tissue in HIV-infected women with consequently lower serum leptin. Thus, serum leptin levels are not indicative of increased placental production when pre-eclampsia is associated with HIV infection.

Keywords:

• Leptin mRNA
• HIV
• pre-eclampsia

Acknowledgements

We thank nursing sisters, Ms P Msane and Ms E Motaung for specimen collection, Dr M Gordon for assistance with accessing gene banks and Ms T Esterhuizen for statistical analysis.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding

This work was supported by the Durban University of Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, National Research Foundation (SA) and Medical Research Council (SA).