Objective To investigate the relationship between the expression of irregular fractalkine (FKN) and serum inflammatory factors as well as pregnancy outcomes in patients with preeclampsia (PE).

Methods A total of 152 patients with PE were selected as study objects. According to the pregnancy outcomes of all PE patients, they were divided into normal pregnancy outcome group and adverse pregnancy outcome group. The general data of patients were collected, and serum levels of FKN, tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, the level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was detected by immunoturbidimetry, and the expression of FKN in placental tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry.

Results The diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, levels of serum TNF-α, serum hs-CRP, serum FKN and the positive rate of tissue FKN in the adverse pregnancy outcome group were significantly higher than those in the normal pregnancy outcome group (P < 0.05). There were positively correlations of the expression of serum FKN in PE patients with diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, serum TNF-α and hs-CRP (P < 0.05). The high expression of serum TNF-α, high expression of serum hs-CRP, high expression of serum FKN and positive FKN in placenta tissue were independent risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes in patients with PE (P < 0.05); excessive gestational weeks were a protective factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes in PE patients (P < 0.05). The areas under the curve of serum TNF-α, hs-CRP, FKN and FKN level in placenta tissue in predicting adverse pregnancy outcomes in PE patients were 0.615 (95%CI, 0.522 to 0.708), 0.681 (95%CI, 0.595 to 0.767), 0.766 (95%CI, 0.690 to 0.842) and 0.702 (95%CI, 0.619 to 0.785), respectively.

Conclusion FKN is highly expressed in serum and placental tissue of patients with PE, and their expression levels are related to serum inflammatory factors and adverse pregnancy. Both of them have high predictive value for adverse pregnancy outcomes in patients with PE.