Alarmin high mobility group box-1 in maternal serum as a potential biomarker of chorioamnionitis-associated preterm birth

Abstract

Chorioamnionitis is associated with an increased risk of spontaneous preterm birth. The aim of this study was to investigate the serum levels of high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) in pregnancies with histological chorioamnionitis (HCA)-associated preterm labor (PTL) with intact membranes or preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), and to access the role of serum HMGB1 in HCA and HCA-associated PTL. A total of 190 pregnant women were enrolled in this study: PLT patients with (n = 28) or without HCA (n = 36), PPROM patients with (n = 26) or without HCA (n = 65), and non-HCA PTL controls (n = 35). Maternal serum levels of HMGB1 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum HMGB1 levels were significantly higher in PTL or PPROM patients than in control group (p < 0.01, respectively). The PPROM patients also exhibited higher serum HMGB1 levels compared to PTL patients (p = 0.015). HCA patients were characterized by significantly increased levels of serum HMGB1 when compared with non-HCA patients (p < 0.01). Therefore, maternal serum HMGB1 may become a potential biomarker of HCA and HCA-associated PTL.

Chinese abstract

自发性早产的风险增加与绒毛膜羊膜炎有关。本研究的目的是调查胎膜完整或未足月胎膜早破 (PPROM) 中的经组织学诊断的绒毛膜羊膜炎 (HCA) 相关性早产 (PTL) 的妊娠期血清高迁移率组蛋白B-1 (HMGB1) 水平, 以及评估血清HMGB1在HCA和HCA相关性PTL中的作用。本研究共纳入190名孕妇, 其中PTL患者中28例有HCA, 36例没有HCA, PPROM患者中26例有HCA, 65例没有出现HCA, 非HCA相关性 PTL作为对照组 (n = 35) 。通过酶联免疫吸附法测量母体血清的HMGB1水平。 PTL或PPROM患者的血清HMGB1水平显著高于对照组 (p <0.01) 。与PTL患者相比, PPROM患者的血清HMGB1水平更高 (p = 0.015) 。 HCA患者的血清HMGB1水平显著高于非HCA患者 (p <0.01) 。因此, 母体血清HMGB1可能成为HCA和HCA相关性PTL的潜在生物标志物。

Keywords:

• Alarmin
• chorioamnionitis
• HMGB1
• maternal serum
• preterm birth

Declaration of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

This work was supported by grants from the International Cooperation Project of the Key Technologies R&D Program of Tianjin (No. 14RCGFSY00152) and the Health Bureau of Tianjin (No. 2015KZ079).