Decreased expression of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor as a newly identified pathogenic mechanism of antiphospholipid-mediated defective placentation

Heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF) plays a role in blastocyst implantation and is down-regulated in preeclampsia and in hypertensive pregnancy disorders associated with defective extravillous trophoblast invasion. Defective placentation and severe preeclampsia are also features of the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether abnormal HB-EGF expression plays a pathogenic role in antiphospholipid antibody (aPL)-mediated defective placentation.