title: Maternal serum PlGF (placental growth factor) in Chinese women in the first trimester undergoing screening for Down syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the potential of maternal serum placental growth factor (PlGF) as a marker for Trisomy 21 in Chinese pregnant women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum samples were collected and stored from 600 women who have a viable singleton pregnancy and underwent first trimester screening for Trisomy 21 between 2011 and 2014. Serum concentration of PlGF was measured using the automated time-solved immunofluorometric assay and expressed as Multiples of the expected median (MoM) from the 600 women available stored serum samples (558 Euploidy and 42 Trisomy 21). The levels of PlGF MoM were compared between Trisomy 21 cases and Euploid pregnancies. Expected median PlGF levels in Chinese were also compared to that published for Caucasians. Multivariate Gaussian modeling was performed to predict detection and false-positive rates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In euploid pregnancies the concentrations of PlGF increased with Crown Rump Length(CRL) and decreased with maternal weight. The overall median MoM of PlGF in Chinese was higher than that of Caucasian. The median PlGF level was 0.63 MoM in the cases and 1.00 MoM in the controls (p<0.0001). The prediction of Trisomy 21 has been slightly improved by the addition of PlGF to the standard screening test in China. The detection rate of screening after adding PlGF data was increased from 93.4% to 94.6% at a false-positive rate of 3% and the false positive rate decreased from 0.23% to 0.17% for a detection rate of 80%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The median PlGF concentrations in Chinese is higher than those of Caucasians. Results suggest adding PlGF may substantially improve the performance of current first trimester screening strategy for Trisomy 21 in Chinese pregnant women.
authors.affiliation: Prenatal Diagnostic Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Prenatal Diagnostic Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Zun-Peng
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cuckle
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
authors.forename: Daljit
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sahota
authors.affiliation: Prenatal Diagnostic Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Dong-Zhi
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Prenatal Diagnostic Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. Electronic address: canliaovip@163.com.
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D000072483:Placenta Growth Factor / Q000097:blood*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First / Q000097:blood*; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D000072483:Placenta Growth Factor
keywords: Chinese; Down syndrome; PlGF; Prenatal screening