The Plasma Level of Protein S and Protein C Activities among the Pregnant Women with and without Pre-eclampsia

Abstract

Background and objective : Protein S and protein C deficiencies are more common among Thais and protein S deficiency was found to be associated with one-fourth of cases of severe pre-eclampsia among westerners.This study aims to compare the levels of protein S and protein C activities between the pre-eclamptic and normal pregnancies

Method: The levels of protein S and protein C activities from the pre-eclamptic and from the age-, the gestational age-, and the parity-matched normal pregnancies as control were compared and analyzed.

Results: The level of protein S activity from the pre-eclamptic group was 27.4+30.0 % which was not statistically different from     17.8+21.0% of the control (p 0.1002). The deficiency of protein S was found in 17 of 41 pre-eclamptic patients (41.5%), comparable to 18 of 41 control (43.9%) (p = 0.823). Protein C activity was similarly normal in both groups.

Conclusion: The levels of protein S activity from the pre-eclamptic and the normal pregnancies were similarly decreased whereas the protein C activity was equally normal in both groups.

Keywords: Protein S Activity, Protein C Activity, Pre-eclampsia