Research Unit of Clinical Medicine and Medical Research Center, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Oulu University Hospital, University of Oulu, PO Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland.
Research Unit of Clinical Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oulu University Hospital, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Sci Rep. 2024 May 11;14(1):10819. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-61206-z.
Currently, there are no accurate means to predict spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB). Recently, we observed low expression of alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) in SPTB placentas. Present aim was to compare the concentrations of maternal serum AAT in pregnancies with preterm and term deliveries. Serum C-reactive protein (CRP) was used as a reference inflammatory marker. Two populations were studied. The first population comprised women who eventually gave birth spontaneously preterm (SPTB group) or term (control group). The second population included pregnant women shortly before delivery and nonpregnant women. We observed that serum AAT levels were higher in the SPTB group than in the controls, and a similar difference was observed when serum CRP was considered in multivariable analysis. However, the overlap in the AAT concentrations was considerable. No statistical significance was observed in serum AAT levels between preterm and term pregnancies at delivery. However, AAT levels were higher at delivery compared to nonpregnant controls. We did not observe a strong correlation between serum AAT and CRP in early pregnancy samples and at labor. We propose that during early pregnancy, complicated by subsequent SPTB, modest elevation of serum AAT associates with SPTB.
目前，尚无准确的方法来预测自发性早产（SPTB）。最近，我们观察到 SPTB 胎盘α-1 抗胰蛋白酶（AAT）表达水平降低。本研究旨在比较早产和足月分娩孕妇的母血清 AAT 浓度。血清 C 反应蛋白（CRP）用作参考炎症标志物。研究了两个群体。第一个群体包括最终自发性早产（SPTB 组）或足月（对照组）分娩的妇女。第二个群体包括分娩前的孕妇和非孕妇。我们观察到 SPTB 组的血清 AAT 水平高于对照组，并且在多变量分析中考虑血清 CRP 时也观察到了类似的差异。然而，AAT 浓度的重叠相当大。在分娩时，早产和足月妊娠之间的血清 AAT 水平没有统计学意义。然而，与非妊娠对照组相比，分娩时的 AAT 水平更高。我们没有观察到早孕样本和分娩时血清 AAT 与 CRP 之间存在强烈相关性。我们提出，在妊娠早期，随后发生 SPTB 时，血清 AAT 适度升高与 SPTB 相关。
