The Role of Heat Shock Proteins in Pathogenesis of Placental Insufficinecy

Heat shock proteins (Hsp) are highly conserved proteins that are part of the universal stress response of the cell. Their main function is to protect cells against structural and functional damage. Organisms exposed to different forms of stress, such as e.g. a lack of nutrients or water, hypoxia, infection or inflammation, demonstrated an increased gene expression of these proteins. Pregnancy complications cause stress conditions for maternal and fetal organism, which may result in an increased gene expression of Hsp. In my thesis, I examined the concentration of extracellular mRNA for five different heat shock proteins (Hsp27, Hsp60, Hsp70, Hsp90, HspBP1) in the plasma of pregnant women and wheather this concentration is affected by possible pregnancy complications (preeclampsia, fetal growth restriction and gestational hypertension). I also investigated a possible correlation between mRNA plasma concentration for Hsp and pulsatility index values (PI) obtained by Doppler ultrasound. This research should help to invent a new predictive method for pregnancy complications, based on a detection of specific biomarkers in the first trimester of pregnancy. The research was conducted on plasma samples obtained from peripheral blood of pregnant women, whose collection was performed during clinical manifestations of..