Maternal serum ischemia-modified albumin: a biomarker to distinguish between normal pregnancy and preeclampsia?
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a biological marker of ischemia, ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), alone or normalized to albumin serum concentration, was modified during the course of pregnancy and so could be used for discrimination between normal pregnancy and preeclampsia.


METHODS
Serum IMA concentrations and IMA to serum albumin ratio (IMA/alb) were compared in 22 nonpregnant healthy women (NP), 19 healthy pregnant women (HP) and 20 pre-eclamptic women (PE). Influence of age of gestation on these markers was also investigated.


RESULTS
IMA to albumin ratio (IMA/alb) was significantly increased in HP compared with NP (IMA/alb. HP: 2.60 +/- 0.38 kU/g and IMA/alb. NP: 2.10 +/- 0.22 kU/g; p < 0.05). Both IMA and IMA/alb were significantly elevated during PE compared with HP (IMA HP: 98.4 +/- 9.2 kU/l and IMA PE 116.9 +/- 12.3 kU/l, p < 0.001; IMA/alb HP: 2.60 +/- 0.38 kU/g and IMA/alb PE: 3.79 +/- 0.75 kU/g p < 0.001)). Both IMA and IMA/alb were increased in PE up to delivery. No correlation could be demonstrated between gestational age and maternal IMA both in HP (r = 0.13; p = 0.071) or PE (r = 0.05; p = 0.318).


CONCLUSIONS
IMA and IMA normalized to albumin appear to be significantly increased during pathological pregnancies. These results confirm that IMA could be used as a biological marker of preeclampsia. These data need to be confirmed by determining intra-individual IMA change during normal and pathological pregnancy.
Gafsou
Benjamin
B
CHRU Lille, Département d'anesthésie réanimation I, Maternité Jeanne de Flandre, France.
Lefèvre
Guillaume
G
Hennache
Bernadette
B
Houfflin Debarge
Véronique
V
Ducloy-Bouthors
Anne-Sophie
AS
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007511:Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism*; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D015415:Biomarkers; D012709:Serum Albumin