Abstract

Although, progesterone has been used for many years in women with threatened abortion; no controlled epidemiological studies of perinatal outcomes in pregnant women with progesterone treatment have been published yet. However, several case reports show a close relationship between progesterone and the development of infantile hemangioma. A surprising high percentage (approximately 70%) of mothers of infants with infantile hemangioma has proved to take progesterone treatment in early pregnancy (usually in the second and third month of pregnancy). So progesterone use in early pregnancy may be a potential cause for infantile hemangioma. This dysregulation in the expression of hormone, as the inhibitor of angiogenesis, may be allowed for the growth of hemangioma cells existing within low oxygen, high estrogen environment. This environment is the potent inducer of angiogenic response that leads to an upregulation of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) responsive chemokines, such as cytokine-stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), both of which are known to stimulate the recruitment and proliferation of endothelial progenitor cells in vitro and in vivo. Thus, in further research, additional controlled studies are needed to understand the relationship between this potential factor (progesterone) and the pathogenesis of infantile hemangioma.

Key words: Infantile hemangioma, progesterone, threatened abortion, hormone.