Maternal serum levels of total activin-A in first-trimester trisomy 21 pregnancies.
Maternal serum total activin-A concentration was measured in 45 pregnancies affected by trisomy 21 and 493 control unaffected pregnancies at 10-14 weeks of gestation. In the trisomy 21 pregnancies total activin-A concentration was significantly higher (1.36 MoM of the unaffected pregnancies) and in 16% of cases the level was above the 95th centile of normal. The log10 SD for the control group and the trisomy 21 group were 0.17 and 0.22, respectively. The median pregnancy associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in this trisomy 21 series was 0.49 and for free beta-hCG was 2.05. In the trisomy group there were significant positive associations between total activin-A and PAPP-A (0.6071) and free beta-hCG (0.4255). The low median difference and the high overlap in values between trisomic and unaffected pregnancies make total activin-A of little practical use in first-trimester screening for trisomy 21.
Spencer
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Endocrine Unit, Clinical Biochemistry Department, Harold Wood Hospital, Gubbins Lane, Romford, Essex RM3 0BE, UK. KevinSpencer1@cs.com
Liao
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Skentou
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Ong
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Nicolaides
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KH
D028341:Activins; D000328:Adult; D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human / Q000097:blood; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007265:Inhibins / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A / Q000032:analysis; D012016:Reference Values
D018997:Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human; D028341:Activins; D007265:Inhibins; D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A