Application of proteomics for diagnosis of fetal aneuploidies and pregnancy complications

Proteomic technologies represent new strategies towards high-throughput, simultaneous analysis of thousands of biological molecules leading to the discovery of biomarkers for early diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of pregnancy outcome. Proteomics have additional relevance in understanding pathophysiology and the development of molecularly targeted therapeutics. Comparison of normal human amniotic fluid proteome with that coming from pregnancies carrying fetuses with chromosomal abnormalities facilitated the detection of panels of potential biomarkers for prenatal detection of fetal aneuploidies. Candidate biomarkers for the early prediction of preeclampsis are also available, while four biomarkers (defensins-2 and -1, calgranulin-C, and calgranulin-A), which were called the MR score, can quickly and accurately detect potentially dangerous infections and predict premature birth. Researchers remain hopeful that proteomic studies will allow for the identification of either one protein marker or of a panel of markers for prenatal detection of fetal aneuploidies and pregnancy complications that could be usefully employed for diagnostic purposes or improvement of the current screening methods. For maximum predictive power however, biomarkers should be selected for further comparative analysis of expression and structural modifications in large numbers of samples from chromosomally normal and abnormal pregnancies obtained from different populations. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.