Trophoblast expression of EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) in the preeclampsia placenta

UNLABELLED: Placental pathology in preeclampsia and retarded fetuses is associated with changes of the pattern of expression of EGFR. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor in trophoblast populations of preeclampsia and retarded fetuses in comparison with normal controls. Tissue microarray with paraffin sections containing a general of 90 placental specimens including 30 preeclamptic cases, 30 retarded fetuses and 30 normal pregnancies (controls) were studied immunohistochemically for epidermal growth factor receptor in the syncytiotrophoblast and villous cytotrophoblast. Epidermal growth factor receptor levels were estimated semiquantitatively. The percentage of strong/intermediate immunoreactivity of epidermal growth factor receptor in the syncytiotrophoblast was significantly higher in normal placental cases (98%) than in pathological conditions (P = .03), although strong/intermediate immunoreactivity in the syncytiotrophoblast was significantly lower in pathologic cases (35%) than controls (P 0.01) was found between the trophoblast expression of EGFR and the weight of the newborn fetuses. Epidermal growth factor receptor expression in the villous and extravillous cytotrophoblastic cells were significantly different between controls and preeclamptic cases (P > .05). CONCLUSION: The development of pathologic pregnancies is possibly related to the differential expression of epidermal growth factor receptor in the syncytiotrophoblast.