title: Maternal serum CA 125 levels in pregnancies with chromosomally-normal and -abnormal fetuses. Dutch Working Party on Prenatal Diagnosis.
abstract: We measured the maternal serum cancer antigen 125 (MS-CA 125) levels in 98 nonpregnant women, 765 first- and second-trimester pregnancies with chromosomally-normal fetuses, and 54 chromosomally-abnormal pregnancies. To determine the MS-CA 125 concentration, we used a new automated microparticle enzyme immunoassay with low inter-assay variability. The median MS-CA 125 level decreased from the first to the second trimester of pregnancy and was higher than that in non-pregnant women. We found no difference between normal and Down's syndrome (n = 29) pregnancies (t-test: t = 0.57, p > 0.5). The MS-CA 125 levels in pregnancies with other chromosomal abnormalities showed no difference either, compared with the normals. We conclude that MS-CA 125 is not a useful marker for fetal Down's syndrome, nor for other chromosomal disorders in pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospital Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Van Lith
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mantingh
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: De Bruijn
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000276:immunology; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate / Q000097:blood*; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate