Effect of preeclampsia on umbilical cord blood hematopoietic progenitor-stem cells

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of preeclampsia on cord blood hematopoietic progenitor-stem cells obtained at delivery because cord blood is increasingly used clinically for stem cell retrieval as an alternative to bone marrow. STUDY DESIGN: Umbilical cord blood was collected from patients fulfilling the criteria for preeclampsia and from gestational age- and birth weight-matched control subjects at delivery (patient/control subjects ratio, 1:2). Cord blood volume and nucleated cell content were measured, and the number of hematopoietic progenitor-stem cells was determined by means of fluorescence-activated cell sorting with the CD34+ epitope and by means of colony assays with different hematopoietic growth factors. In addition, the expression of adhesion molecules by CD34+ progenitor-stem cells was examined. RESULTS: In pregnancies affected by preeclampsia, volume and nucleated cell and total CD34+ cell contents in the collected cord blood were significantly smaller compared with those of control subjects. Furthermore, there was a trend toward a smaller relative number of CD34+ cells and colony-forming units per nucleated cell in cord blood samples from preeclamptic patients. No difference in the expression of the cell-adhesion molecules leukocyte function-associated antigen 1, very late activation antigen 4, and L-selectin by CD34+ cells could be found. CONCLUSION: This study shows that preeclampsia affects umbilical cord blood volume and nucleated cell and progenitor-stem cell numbers obtained at birth.