title: Identification of maternal serum microRNAs as novel non-invasive biomarkers for prenatal detection of fetal congenital heart defects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Congenital heart defects (CHD) are the most common form of malformation during embryonic development. Circulating miRNAs have recently been shown to serve as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers in patients with cancers. Our current study focused on the altered expression of maternal serum miRNAs and their correlation with fetal CHD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We systematically performed SOLiD sequencing followed by individual quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays to identify and validate the expression of maternal serum miRNAs at 18-22 weeks of gestation. Four miRNAs (miR-19b, miR-22, miR-29c and miR-375) were found to be significantly up-regulated in pregnant women with fetal CHD, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 0.79, 0.671, 0.767 and 0.693, respectively. Furthermore, the combination of the four miRNAs using multiple logistic regression analysis showed a larger AUC (0.813) that was more efficient for the early detection of fetal CHD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We identified and validated a class of four maternal serum miRNAs which could act as novel non-invasive biomarkers for the prenatal detection of fetal CHD.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China.
authors.forename: Shasha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Jingai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Junxia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Lingmei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xiaoshan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Mengmeng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xirong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Shuping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Zhangbin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019540:Area Under Curve; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D005865:Gestational Age; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D012372:ROC Curve; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C549214:MIRN19A microRNA, human; C548375:MIRN22 microRNA, human; C532045:MIRN29a microRNA, human; C540933:MIRN375 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Biomarker; Maternal serum; miR-19b; miR-22; miR-29c; miR-375