Maternal Plasma Metabolomic Profiles in Spontaneous Preterm Birth: Preliminary Results.

Barbara Lizewska,Adam Lemancewicz,Joanna Teul,Joanna Goscik,Karol Charkiewicz,Ramkumar Menon,Piotr Laudanski,Pawel Kuc,Marian Kacerovsky,Wojciech Miltyk

doi:10.1155/2018/9362820

Abstract

Objective To profile maternal plasma metabolome in spontaneous preterm birth. Method In this retrospective case-control study, we have examined plasma of patient with preterm birth (between 22 and 36 weeks of pregnancy (n = 57)), with threatened preterm labor (between 23 and 36 weeks of pregnancy (n = 49)), and with term delivery (n = 25). Plasma samples were analysed using liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF-MS) in positive and negative polarity modes. Results We found 168 differentially expressed metabolites that were significantly distinct between study groups. We determined 51 metabolites using publicly available databases that could be subdivided into one of the five groups: amino acids, fatty acids, lipids, hormones, and bile acids. PLS-DA models, verified by SVM classification accuracy, differentiated preterm birth and term delivery groups. Conclusions Maternal plasma metabolites are different between term and preterm parturitions. Part of them may be related with preterm labor, while others may be affected by gestational age or the beginning of labor. Metabolite profile can classify preterm or term delivery groups raising the potential of metabolome as a biomarker to identify high-risk pregnancies. Metabolomic studies are also a tool to detect individual compounds that may be further tested in targeted researches.

Highlights

Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as labor between 22 and 37 weeks of gestation [1]
Saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids: omega 9, omega 6, and omega 3 were different between the studied groups. Both antiinflammatory omega 3 [31] and proinflammatory omega 6 fatty acids [32] have the same character of change—decreased in group II comparing with groups I, Ia, and III and no significant change between groups I and III
In our study, higher concentration of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was seen in patients delivered preterm when compared with threatened preterm delivery, but there was no significant change between preterm and term birth groups

Summary

Introduction

PTB is one of the biggest challenges of obstetrics, because there is no effective method for screening, early diagnosis for high-risk status, treatment, and prevention [2, 3]. Children born preterm show a high rate of maternal mortality, inflammation, and complications in later life such as neurological, respiratory, gastrointestinal, or hematologic problems [4]. This causes serious consequences, both social and economic [5]. The causality of PTB is unclear and often complex, and screening women for high-risk status has not been successfully developed [6].

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Conclusion