Soluble urinary somatic angiotensin converting enzyme is overexpressed in patients with preeclampsia: a potential new marker for the disease?

The aim of this study was to identify and quantify urinary Angiotensin-Converting-Enzyme (ACE) in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.Urine samples were analyzed by Western blot. Patients were classified into: normotensive pregnancy (N); preeclampsia and superimposed preeclampsia (PE+SPE); and gestational hypertension (GH).Somatic ACE protein expression was higher in PE+SPE compared to N and GH. There was a positive correlation between ACE and urinary protein to creatinine ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressures.These results indicate ACE overexpression in the urine of preeclamptic patients and suggest that it may be a new marker for the disease.