Serum leptin in first-trimester Down syndrome pregnancies.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Leptin is a key regulator of satiety; and the serum concentration is considered to reflect nutritional status. Expressed predominantly by the adipocytes, leptin is also expressed in placenta, which is a major source of both leptin and the leptin receptor in pregnancy serum. As a placenta protein, leptin serum concentrations may be perturbed in Down syndrome (DS) pregnancies as seen for pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) and human chorionic gonadotrophin-beta (hCGbeta). We examined whether leptin is a maternal serum marker for foetal DS in the first trimester.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Serum samples from 44 pregnant women with a DS foetus, and 135 control pregnant women in week 8 to 14 had the leptin concentration determined by immunoassay and the concentrations were converted into multiples of the median (MoM) of controls based on log-regression analysis. The distributions of log10 MoM leptin was compared in DS and control pregnancies.

RESULTS:

Serum leptin increased significantly with gestational age in controls (p = 0.02). The mean log10 MoM in controls was - 0.0486, with a median empirical MoM of 0.89, and - 0.0618, with a median empirical MoM of 0.80, in DS pregnancies. This difference was not significant. The log10 MoM leptin values in DS pregnancies did not change with gestational age (p = 0.32).

CONCLUSION:

Leptin is not a first-trimester marker for foetal DS.

• Authors: Paula Hedley, Michael Christiansen
• Journal: Prenatal diagnosis (Prenat Diagn) Vol. 28 Issue 6 Pg. 475-7 (Jun 2008) ISSN: 0197-3851 [Print] England
• PMID: 18437707 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers
• Leptin

Topics

• Biomarkers (blood)
• Down Syndrome (blood, diagnosis)
• Female
• Humans
• Leptin (blood)
• Linear Models
• Pregnancy
• Pregnancy Trimester, First (blood)
• Prenatal Diagnosis