Abstract:Objective To investigate the expression of FGF-21 in placenta of preeclampsia pregnant women and its relation with clinical biochemical indexes. Methods Immunohistochemical SP method, Western blotting and qRT-PCR were used to detect the expression of FGF-21 protein and its mRNA in placenta of 57 preeclampsia, 60 gestational hypertension and 60 normal pregnant women. Results The mean values of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, triglyceride, uric acid, HDL, BMI, cholesterol, LDL, ApoB, ApoA1, creatinine and gestational days at delivery were significantly different among preeclampsia group, gestational hypertension group and control group (P?0.05). There was no significant difference in the mean values of age and urea nitrogen among the three groups (P?>?0.05). Immunohistochemical SP showed that FGF-21 was mainly expressed in cytoplasm of trophoblast cells in placental tissue. The positive expression rate of FGF-21 protein, the expression quantity of FGF-21 protein and mRNA in preeclampsia group and gestational hypertension group was significantly higher than that in control group (P?0.05), however, there was no significant difference between preeclampsia group and gestational hypertension group (P?>?0.05). Relevance analysis showed that the expression of FGF-21 protein in preeclampsia group was positively related with diastolic blood pressure, triglyceride and LDL, and the expression of FGF-21 protein in gestational hypertension group was positively related with triglyceride and LDL. Conclusion FGF-21 may be involved in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia through lipid metabolism.