Abstract: Pre-eclampsia is a complication of pregnancy characterized by hypertension and proteinuria that results in maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. Although the etiology remains unclear，it seems to be initiated by placental factors that enter the maternal circulation and may cause endothelial dysfunction. Recently，anti-angiogenic factors such as endoglin，the soluble form of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor（sFlt-1） as well as the placental growth factor have been found to be associated with the onset of pre-eclampsia. This review will summarize our current understanding of molecular structure of sFlt-1，signal pathways，with an emphasis on its role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia and regulative factors.

Key words: Pre-eclampsia, Vascular endothelial growth factors, Receptors, vascular endothelial growth factor, Toll-like receptor 3