Assessment of a combination of maternal factors and biomarkers at 11-13 weeks provides effective first-trimester screening for preterm PE. Copyright © 2017 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Objective To assess the role of maternal demographic characteristics, uterine artery Doppler velocimetry, maternal serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, and low 0.43; 95% CI,. Increased uterine artery PI was the only independent factor in the prediction of placental abruption (OR, 8.49; 95% CI,

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The beneficial effect of aspirin in the prevention of preterm preeclampsia appears to depend on compliance.

Background Despite the large impact of ultrasonographic and biochemical markers on prenatal screening, the ability to accurately diagnose Down syndrome (DS) is still limited and better diagnostic testing is needed.Methods Plasma from 8 women carrying a DS foetus and 12 with non-DS foetuses matched for gestational age, maternal age and ethnicity, in the second trimester of pregnancy, was analysed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) in order to identify biomarkers for DS.Results Gel comparison revealed nine proteins differentially expressed in maternal plasma in women with DS foetuses. Eight proteins, transthyretin (TTHY), ceruloplasmin (CERU), afamin (AFAM), alpha-1-microglobulin (AMBP), apolipoprotein E (APOE), serum amyloid P-component (SAMP), histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) and alpha-1-antitrypsin (A1AT) were up-regulated and one, clusterin (CLUS), down-regulated. All nine proteins are known to be involved in foetal growth and development. APOE, SAMP, AFAM and CLUS are associated with the DS phenotype. Western blot and densitometric analysis of APOE and SAMP confirmed the increase of both proteins by 19 and 48% respectively.Conclusions All differentially expressed proteins are candidate biomarkers for DS, providing opportunities for the development of non-invasive prenatal diagnosis. As these are preliminary findings, follow-up experiments are needed for their evaluation.