Serum levels of endocan correlate with the presence and severity of pre-eclampsia

Background: Endocan, a cysteine-rich dermatan sulfate proteoglycan expressed by endothelial cells, is seemed to be a new biomarker for endothelial dysfunction. Pre-eclampsia (PE) is characterized by the new onset of hypertension, proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation, placental vascular remodeling, systemic vascular inflammation and endothelial dysfunction. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of PE and its severity with serum endocan levels. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed. Serum was collected from women with PE and normotensive controls. Serum endocan and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) concentrations were measured by a specific enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Patients with PE had significantly higher median (interquartile range) endocan and mean TNF-alpha concentrations than controls [20.04 (12.26) ng/mL vs 15.55 (6.19) ng/mL, p < 0.001 for endocan; 26.49 +/- 12.14 pg/mL vs 14.62 +/- 5.61 pg/mL, p < 0.001 for TNF-alpha; respectively]. Serum endocan concentrations were positively correlated with systolic blood pressure (r = 0.618, p < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.608, p < 0.001), the amount of 24-h proteinuria (r = 0.786, p < 0.001) and TNF-alpha (r = 0.474, p < 0.001) in women with PE. In subgroup analysis, patients with severe PE had significantly higher endocan concentrations than those with mild PE. Receiver operating characteristic analysis of endocan was used to identify the patients with PE and also discriminating between mild and severe PE. Conclusion: Serum endocan concentrations were significantly elevated in women with PE versus normotensive controls, and concentrations seem to be associated with the severity of the disease.