High concentrations of serum inhibin in pre-eclampsia

Objective: To evaluate maternal serum immunoreactive inhibin (ir-inhibin) concentrations in women with preeclampsia, and assess the correlation between serum ir-inhibin and HCG, Methods: The subjects comprised 28 pregnant women with suspected intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) during the third trimester. Serum concentrations of ir-inhibin and HCG were measured in 13 women with pre-eclampsia and 15 pregnant women as control subjects. Serum ir-inhibin was determined by a double antibody radioimmunoassay, and HCG by a solid-phase immunoradiometric assay. Results: There were no significant differences in maternal characteristics between the pre-eclamptic group and control group. The pre-eclamptic group had significantly higher concentrations of serum ir-inhibin and HCG compared with the control group. The serum concentrations of ir-inhibin correlated positively with those of HCG, Conclusion: The pre-eclamptic patients displayed high serum levels of ir-inhibin and HCG, and this might reflect hyperplasia of trophoblastic cells. (C) 2000 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. All rights reserved.