Markedly higher sFlt-1/PlGF ratio in a woman with acute fatty liver of pregnancy compared with HELLP syndrome.

AIM: To compare serum levels of angiogenesis-related factors between 14 women with HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count) syndrome and a woman with acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP).

METHODS

Serum samples were collected in 2004-2008 and 2013-2016. The levels of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 (sFlt-1) and placental growth factor (PlGF) were measured by an automated electrochemiluminescence immunoassay using Elecsys sFlt-1 and Elecsys PlGF. After logarithmic transformation, levels of sFlt-1, PlGF and the sFlt-1/PlGF ratio in a woman with AFLP were compared with those in women with HELLP syndrome, using the one-sample t-test.

RESULTS

At 37 weeks of gestation, a patient was diagnosed with AFLP based on Swansea criteria (showing six features including elevated transaminases), and she also showed a duodenal ulcer with active bleeding, thrombocytopenia and hypertension. Her serum levels of sFlt-1 and sFlt-1/PlGF ratio were significantly higher than in those with HELLP syndrome (273 040 pg/mL vs 15 135 [mean], P < 0.001; 4236 vs 224, P < 0.001; respectively). However, her serum level of PlGF was not significantly different from those with HELLP syndrome.

CONCLUSION

Serum levels of sFlt-1 and the sFlt-1/PlGF ratio, but not PlGF, in a woman with AFLP were markedly higher than those in women with HELLP syndrome. AFLP may be a different clinical entity from HELLP syndrome based on angiogenesis-related factors. Clinically, the sFlt-1/PlGF ratio may be used to rapidly distinguish AFLP from HELLP syndrome.