title: Maternal serum placental leucine aminopeptidase (P-LAP)/oxytocinase and preterm delivery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the applicability of maternal serum placental leucine aminopeptidase (P-LAP) as a parameter for predicting preterm delivery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Maternal serum P-LAP activity of 61 consecutive women with preterm labor at admission were assayed and examined to assess the relationship of levels to the incidence of preterm and term deliveries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When P-LAP activity of study patient serum was at or below the 10th percentile, we found a greater ratio of preterm delivery (P=0.0085) and an approximately 2.3-fold increase risk. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 29, 97, 89 and 62%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maternal serum P-LAP activity decreases in cases with spontaneous preterm delivery and may be a clinically potential marker for some cases of preterm labor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kozaki
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Itakura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okamura
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wakai
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mizutani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D010122:Cystinyl Aminopeptidase / Q000097:blood*; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D010122:Cystinyl Aminopeptidase; C105964:leucyl-cystinyl aminopeptidase