Dried blood spot measurement of pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and free β-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) from a low-resource setting

Advances and perspectives in the analytical technology for small peptide hormones analysis: A glimpse to gonadorelin

In the last twenty years, we have witnessed an important evolution of bioanalytical approaches moving from conventional lab bench instrumentation to simpler, easy-to-use techniques to deliver analytical responses on-site, with reduced analysis times and costs. In this frame, affinity reagents production has also jointly advanced from natural receptors to biomimetic, abiotic receptors, animal-free produced. Among biomimetic ones, aptamers, and molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs) play a leading role. Herein, our motivation is to provide insights into the evolution of conventional and innovative analytical approaches based on chromatography, immunochemistry, and affinity sensing referred to as peptide hormones. Indeed, the analysis of peptide hormones represents a current challenge for biomedical, pharmaceutical, and anti-doping analysis. Specifically, as a paradigmatic example, we report the case of gonadorelin, a neuropeptide that in recent years has drawn a lot of attention as a therapeutic drug misused in doping practices during sports competitions.

The postnatal presence of human chorionic gonadotropin in preterm infants and its potential inverse association with retinopathy of prematurity

BACKGROUND

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and luteinizing hormone (LH) are pro-angiogenic gonadotropic hormones, which classically target the reproductive organs. However, hCG, LH, and their shared CG/LH receptor are also present in the human eye. The possibility that a deficiency of these hormones may be involved in the pathogenesis of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) during its early non-proliferative phase has not been explored.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study of Michigan-born preterm infants utilizing dried blood spots. We analyzed hCG and LH blood levels at 1 week and 4 weeks of age from 113 study participants (60 without ROP; 53 with non-proliferative ROP). We utilized electrochemiluminescence assays on the Mesoscale Discovery platform.

RESULTS

Similar levels of hCG are found in preterm infants at both 1 week and 4 weeks after birth. Preterm infants with non-proliferative ROP, after adjusting for sex and gestational age, have 2.42 [95% CI: 1.08-5.40] times the odds of having low hCG at fourth week of age.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that hCG is present postnatally in preterm infants and that a deficiency of hCG at 4 weeks of age is potentially associated with non-proliferative ROP. This provides novel evidence to suggest that hCG may participate in human retinal angiogenesis.

Improved prediction of gestational hypertension by inclusion of placental growth factor and pregnancy associated plasma protein-a in a sample of Ghanaian women

BACKGROUND

We assessed whether adding the biomarkers Pregnancy Associated Plasma Protein-A (PAPP-A) and Placental Growth Factor (PlGF) to maternal clinical characteristics improved the prediction of a previously developed model for gestational hypertension in a cohort of Ghanaian pregnant women.

METHODS

This study was nested in a prospective cohort of 1010 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in two public hospitals in Accra, Ghana. Pregnant women who were normotensive, at a gestational age at recruitment of between 8 and 13 weeks and provided a blood sample for biomarker analysis were eligible for inclusion. From serum, biomarkers PAPP-A and PlGF concentrations were measured by the AutoDELFIA immunoassay method and multiple of the median (MoM) values corrected for gestational age (PAPP-A and PlGF) and maternal weight (PAPP-A) were calculated. To obtain prediction models, these biomarkers were included with clinical predictors maternal weight, height, diastolic blood pressure, a previous history of gestational hypertension, history of hypertension in parents and parity in a logistic regression to obtain prediction models. The Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUC) was used to assess the predictive ability of the models.

RESULTS

Three hundred and seventy three women participated in this study. The area under the curve (AUC) of the model with only maternal clinical characteristics was 0.75 (0.64-0.86) and 0.89(0.73-1.00) for multiparous and primigravid women respectively. The AUCs after inclusion of both PAPP-A and PlGF were 0.82 (0.74-0.89) and 0.95 (0.87-1.00) for multiparous and primigravid women respectively.

CONCLUSION

Adding the biomarkers PAPP-A and PlGF to maternal characteristics to a prediction model for gestational hypertension in a cohort of Ghanaian pregnant women improved predictive ability. Further research using larger sample sizes in similar settings to validate these findings is recommended.