title: Interleukin-8 level in maternal serum as a marker for screening of histological chorioamnionitis at term.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To establish a clinical method for immediate diagnosis of histological chorioamnionitis, by maternal blood sampling at term.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sera of 22 mothers with chorioamnionitis and 81 mothers without chorioamnionitis at term delivery were collected. The serum levels of cytokines including interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1 alpha), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) were titered and other conventional markers such as white blood cell and CRP were measured simultaneously. Chorioamnionitis was histopathologically confirmed after delivery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sera of mothers with histological chorioamnionitis showed a significant increase in IL-8 titer, but not in those of other cytokines or conventional markers, compared with those without chorioamnionitis. A positive correlation was observed between maternal and cord serum IL-8 levels. Maternal IL-8 showed the highest predictive value for diagnosis of histological chorioamnionitis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Measurement of maternal IL-8 is useful for rapid prenatal screening of histological chorioamnionitis at term.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Osaka University Medical School, Japan. shimoya@gyne.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimoya
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Saji
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murata
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002821:Chorioamnionitis / Q000097:blood / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016207:Cytokines; D016209:Interleukin-8