Objective: Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy specific form of hypertension and a multisystem disorder of maternal and placental origin. Pregnancy associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) is a insulin like growth factor binding protein 4- degrading metalloproteinase. The aim of this study was to measure and compare serum PAPP-A levels and to investigate a possible correlation between C-reactive protein (CRP), an indicator of tissue damage and inflammation, in third trimester pre-eclamptic and healthy pregnant women

Materials and Methods: The study consisted of 27 pregnant women with pre-eclampsia symptoms and 26 healthy pregnant women similar in terms of gestational age, maternal age and parity. Both groups were in the third trimester. Serum PAPP-A and CRP levels were measured by chemiluminescence and nephelometric methods, respectively.

Results: Maternal serum PAPP-A and CRP levels were higher in pre-eclamptic women than healthy pregnant group (mean ± SD, 99.63±64.20; 64.00±39.90 mIU/mL, p<0.05; 34.66±25.70; 10.18±7.37 mg/L, p<0.001, respectively). No correlation was found between serum PAPP-A and CRP levels in the study groups.

Conclusion: High CRP levels in pre-eclamptics is an indicator for increased inflammation. Elevated PAPP-A levels were thought to be the result of induced expression of PAPP-A gene which is associated with increased cytokines as a result of vascular damage caused by a trophoblastic invasion defect. Statistically higher significance in CRP elevation than PAPP-A in pre-eclamptics compared to healthy pregnants, demonstrates that CRP levels may be a better diagnostic indicator.