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Umbilical Cord Blood Circulating Progenitor Cells and Endothelial Colony-Forming Cells Are Decreased in Preeclampsia

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Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy-specific disease characterized by the new onset of hypertension and proteinuria. Mothers with PE are known to develop endothelial dysfunction, but its effect on infants has been understudied, as newborns are often asymptomatic. Recent studies indicate that infants born from preeclamptic pregnancies develop endothelial dysfunction including higher blood pressure during childhood and an increased risk of stroke later in life. We hypothesize that PE reduces the number and function of fetal angiogenic progenitor cells and may contribute to this increased risk. We quantified 2 distinct types of angiogenic progenitors, pro-angiogenic circulating progenitor cells (CPCs) and endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs), from the umbilical cord blood of preeclamptic pregnancies and normotensive controls. Pro-angiogenic and non-angiogenic CPCs were enumerated via flow cytometry and ECFCs by cell culture. Additionally, we studied the growth, migration, and tube formation of ECFCs from PE and gestational age–matched normotensive control pregnancies. We found that PE resulted in decreased cord blood pro-angiogenic CPCs and ECFCs. Nonangiogenic CPCs were also decreased. Pre-eclamptic ECFCs demonstrated decreased growth and migration but formed tube-like structures in vitro similar to controls. Our results suggest that the preeclamptic environment alters the number and function of angiogenic progenitor cells and may increase the risk of later vascular disease.

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Author notes

  1. Authors contributed equally to the article

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Diane L. Gumina MS & Virginia D. Winn MD, PhD

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Heart Lung Center, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Claudine P. Black BS & Christopher D. Baker MD

  3. Pediatric Pulmonology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA

    Vivek Balasubramaniam MD

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Virginia D. Winn MD, PhD

  5. Pediatric Heart Lung Center, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 13123 East 16th Avenue, Box B-395, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Christopher D. Baker MD

Authors
  1. Diane L. Gumina MS
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  2. Claudine P. Black BS
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  3. Vivek Balasubramaniam MD
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  4. Virginia D. Winn MD, PhD
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  5. Christopher D. Baker MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher D. Baker MD.

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Gumina, D.L., Black, C.P., Balasubramaniam, V. et al. Umbilical Cord Blood Circulating Progenitor Cells and Endothelial Colony-Forming Cells Are Decreased in Preeclampsia. Reprod. Sci. 24, 1088–1096 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719116678692

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1933719116678692

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