Relationship between Serum Soluble Suppression of Tumorigenicity (ST) 2 and Global Longitudinal Strain in Pre-eclampsia at Delivery and 1 Year After

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pre-eclampsia is characterized by severe inflammatory response and endothelial dysfunction that could lead to myocardial injury and remodeling. Biomarker examination such as soluble Suppression of Tumorigenicity 2 (sST2), which has been used as a marker for myocardial fibrosis and Global Longitudinal Strain (GLS) by echocardiography could be used to predict mortality and detect subclinical myocardial dysfunction. AIM: The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between serum levels of sST2 and GLS in patients with pre-eclampsia 1 year postpartum. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study with correlation analysis. GLS examination was done using EchoPAC workstation. Maternal plasma of sST2 was measured using the Presage ST2 Assay. Rank-Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to analyze the correlation between GLS and sST2 at delivery and 1 year postpartum. RESULTS: There were 30 subjects with pre-eclampsia who fulfilled the criteria. Average age was 33 ± 6 years and majority were multipara (76.7%) and early onset pre-eclampsia (76.7%) with sST2 value of 66.1 ± 7.7 ng/mL and GLS of −17 ± 0.4%. One year after delivery, the sST2 value is 22 ± 1.4 ng/mL and an average value GLS is −19.7 ± 0.4%. Analysis showed moderate positive correlation between sST2 and GLS at delivery (r = 0.439, p = 0.015), but there was no correlation between sST2 and GLS 1 year after delivery (r = 0.036, p = 0.961). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates a significant correlation between sST2 and GLS at delivery in patients with pre-eclampsia but not in 1 year after delivery.