Abeer A. EL-Refai^{1, 2}, Sameer H. Fatani¹, Hala F. M. Kamel^{1, 3,}

Dysregulation of maternal circulating adipocytokines has been implicated in several obstetrical syndromes including preeclampsia (PE). It has been suggested that adipocytokines provide a molecular link between metabolic derangements and inflammatory response in complicated pregnancies. We aimed in this study to evaluate the relationship between serum levels of Retinol binding protein-4 (RBP-4) and Resistin with clinical, anthropometric and metabolic parameters of PE. This study included 3 groups: group 1 included 50 pregnant females with PE, group 2 included 50 healthy pregnant females and group 3 included 50 healthy non-pregnant female as a control group. For all groups anthropometric and clinical measurements were performed. Serum RBP-4, resistin, insulin were measured by ELISA and Insulin resistance was calculated by Hemostasis model assessment index (HOMA-IR). Our results showed that serum RBP-4 and resistin concentrations were elevated in PE [39(33.25-40.87) ug/ml] & [61(23.5-91.87) ng/ml] compared to normal pregnancy [18.5(8-27.87) ug/ml] & [25.5(12.7-49.12) ng/ml). Moreover, RBP4 but not resistin levels were elevated in severe cases relative to mild cases of PE. Serum levels of RBP4 showed positive significant correlation with [SBP (r=0.38, p= 0.001) & DBP (r=0.32, p=0.01)] which are markers of severity. Fasting insulin was positively correlated with RBP-4 (p=0.04). By multiple linear regression analysis, serum RBP-4 levels were significantly and positively correlated with SBP (P=0.01), while markers of adiposity were not independently associated with resistin. Conclusion: RBP-4 and resistin were up-regulated in PE, furthermore RBP-4 not resistin levels were independently associated with markers of severity of PE. However no clear relationship were observed between HOMA-IR with both RBP-4 and resistin and the role of Insulin resistance in PE was not clearly proved.

preeclampsia, Resistin, Retinol binding protein-4, HOMA-IR