Relationship between insulin resistance and circulating endothelial cells in pre-eclampsia

Abstract

Endothelial dysfunction and insulin resistance (IR) are established features of pre-eclampsia, however the cause and effect relationship between them remain unexplained. Circulating endothelial cells (CEC) are increased in pre-eclampsia and appear to correlate with the degree of endothelial dysfunction. We hypothesised that CEC count in pre-eclampsia would correlate with IR and might provide a simple measure of IR in pregnancies complicated by the disease. CEC count and IR were measured in 10 women with pre-eclampsia and 10 normal pregnant controls matched for maternal age, body mass index and gestational age during the third trimester. CEC count was determined using an established immunomagnetic bead separation method and IR was measured by the homeostasis model test. CEC count and IR were significantly increased in pre-eclampsia compared to normal pregnancy. However, there was no correlation between the CEC count and IR in pre-eclampsia. The data suggest that CEC count in pre-eclampsia is not a useful measure on its own of IR in pregnancies complicated by the disease.

Chinese abstract

血管内皮功能损伤和胰岛素抵抗是已经确定的子痫前期的特点，然而它们之间的因果关系仍无法解释。血管内皮细胞在子痫前期增加了，这似乎与内皮细胞损伤的程度有关。假设子痫前期的血管内皮细胞数量与胰岛素抵抗有关，并且可以提供妊娠并发胰岛素抵抗的一个简单测量。检测10名患有子痫前期的孕妇和10名正常孕妇的血管内皮细胞数量和胰岛素抵抗，这两组孕妇的年龄、体重指数和孕周在第三孕期是相匹配的。通过免疫磁珠法测定血管内皮细胞数量，通过胰岛功能检测判断胰岛素抵抗。子痫前期与正常妊娠相比，血管内皮细胞数量和胰岛素抵抗均显著增加了。然而，子痫前期的血管内皮细胞的数量和胰岛素抵抗之间没有相关性。有数据表明，血管内皮细胞计数对于妊娠时本就并发胰岛素抵抗的子痫前期并不是一个有用的测量。

• Circulating endothelial cells
• endothelial dysfunction
• insulin resistance
• pre-eclampsia

Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the financial support from the Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust, UK.

Declaration of interest

This study was supported by the Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust, UK. The authors report no declaration of interest.