Novel biomarker flags up ectopic pregnancies

Evaluating the performance of a novel biomarker to differentiate an ectopic pregnancy from normal uterine pregnancies.

MedWire News: Researchers have identified a novel biomarker with the potential to distinguish between ectopic pregnancies (EP) and normal uterine pregnancies (IUP).

A disintegrin and metalloprotease-12 (ADAM-12), which is expressed in placenta and provokes myogenesis, was significantly decreased in the sera of patients with EP compared with those with IUP, report Kurt Barnhart (University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, USA) and colleagues.

Using a proteomics evaluation of sera from patients with EP (n = 9) and IUP (n = 9) who presented in the emergency room with pain or bleeding in the first trimester of pregnancy, the team identified ADAM-12 as a candidate biomarker for EP, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) of 0.81 (where 1.00 = perfect discrimination).

In repeat analysis of sera from 199 further patients with similar symptoms (EP = 99), median ADAM-12 levels were significantly decreased in those with EP versus IUP, at 2.5 versus 18.6 ng/ml.

The AUC score of 0.82 in this cohort also represented good discrimination between the EP and IUP groups; at a cut-point of 2.53 ng/ml, ADAM-12 predicted EP with 70 percent sensitivity and 84 percent specificity.

“ADAM-12 is a promising marker for the diagnosis of EP in women with symptoms in the first trimester,” conclude Barnhart et al.

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