title: Cord blood chemokines differentiate between spontaneous and elective preterm births in singleton pregnancies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Signals originating from both maternal and fetal compartments participate in the preterm labor process.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether cord blood immunoproteins predict spontaneous preterm labor.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cord blood from 125 very preterm (gestational age <32weeks) singleton infants and 33 term infants was collected after birth and analyzed for 107 immunoproteins on microarrays. Immunoproteins from spontaneous preterm births (SPTB) were compared to immunoproteins from preterm births without labor. The placentas were studied for histology and immunohistochemistry. The data was modeled by classification and regression trees (CART) analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In preterm births, low CCL16 level predicted SPTB with a sensitivity of 94.7%, and specificity of 46.9%. According to logistic regression analysis, low CCL16 (OR 57.9), histologic chorioamnitis (OR 33.6), and high CCL23 (OR 44.6) were independent risk factors of SPTB. Cord blood CCL16 was higher in preterm births without labor and in term births than in SPTBs. CCL16 and its signaling receptor CCR1 were visualized in syncytiotrophoblast and cytotrophoblast cells of placental villi.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low umbilical cord blood chemokine CCL16 associates with spontaneous preterm birth. Further studies are required to show whether CCL16 is involved in spontaneous preterm labor or in placental disease necessitating elective preterm delivery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Tuula
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaukola
authors.forename: Marja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ojaniemi
authors.forename: Jarno
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tuimala
authors.forename: Riitta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Herva
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saarela
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Kingsmore
authors.forename: Mikko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hallman
mesh_terms: D018925:Chemokines / Q000097:blood*; D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000097:blood*; D002824:Chorionic Villi / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000209:etiology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011247:Pregnancy; D047928:Premature Birth; D054389:Receptors, CCR1 / Q000097:blood*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014327:Trophoblasts / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: C481939:CCL16 protein, human; C515300:CCR1 protein, human; D018925:Chemokines; D019742:Chemokines, CC; D054389:Receptors, CCR1