Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) excretion increases in normal pregnancy but not in preeclampsia

Abstract

Urinary NGAL is not a valuable early biomarker for preeclampsia.

Does maternal hydronephrosis have an impact on urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL) levels?

“…Mean uNGAL levels in uncomplicated pregnancies during the 2nd or 3rd trimesters were reported as 30.5 and 47.8 ng/ mL, respectively in the literature that are in line with our findings (33.2 ng/mL) [24]. Trend toward higher uNGAL levels was detected when the severity of hydronephrosis increased, as nearly 2-fold higher uNGAL levels (median 60 ng/mL) were detected in cases with severe hydronephrosis, compared to controls.…”

“…Acute renal failure diagnosis was utilized as the primary variable, since the first goal of the study was to detect the differences in renal dysfunction between two groups. According to available data [14,24], NGAL (ng/mL) level of 100 ng/mL was assumed for renal injury (hydronephrosis) group and 50 ng/mL for healthy controls, which corresponded a standardized effect size of 0.63 (d ¼ 0.63). Type I error rate () was taken as 0.05 and the power was taken as 0.80 for the two-sided Student's t-test.…”

Analysis of maternal serum and urinary lipocalin-2 levels

“…[7] Ödum et al reported that lipocalin-2 in the urine were at high levels in normal pregnant women unlike preeclampsia. [8] However, we observed in our study that lipocalin-2 levels were not stable in normal pregnant women, and they were significantly low both in urine and serum in the third trimester compared to the first trimester.…”

Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin Levels in Early and Late Onset Preeclampsia

“…Xiao et al (27) performed a study in 2013 and detected that urine NGAL, serum cystatin C, urine RBP and urine KIM-1 were significantly elevated in women with preeclampsia. Ødum et al (28) detected that urine NGAL levels were significantly elevated in healthy pregnant women compared to women with preeclampsia. Patel et al (29) have detected that serum NGAL was significantly higher in women with acute renal injury due to hypertensive disorders of pregnancy compared to healthy pregnant women.…”