Calcium Binding Protein S100B as a Marker in Perinatology

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read Dr. Friel's abstract: The Calcium Binding Protein S100B, a Marker for Neurologic Injury in the Perinatal Period, is Increased in the Amniotic Fluid of Women with Preterm Labor and Intact Membranes

Transcript

Alix Boyle: Hi, This is Alix Boyle reporting for OBGYN.net. We are here at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, I am speaking with Dr. Lara Friel from the Perinatology Research Branch of the N.I.C.H.D. and Wayne State University. So tell us about your research.

Lara A. Friel, MD, PhD: Well, we did a study about S100B, which is a calcium binding protein, which is the most specific to the nervous system. It’s been studied in perinatal medicine as a marker of neurologic damage, and has found to be elevated in the urine of neonates with intraventricular hemorrhage, and preterm neonates, and also of full term neonates with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. We wanted to see if this protein was elevated in the amniotic fluid with gestational age, or infection and inflammation.

Alix Boyle: What is S100B and why is it an important molecule?

Lara A. Friel, MD, PhD: It is an important molecule because of its specificity to the nervous system, and the data in preterm neonates and full term neonates that correlated with neurologic damage. However, in our studies we found that it was elevated in the amniotic fluid with intraamniotic inflammation and infection in both amniotic fluid of women with preterm labor, with intact membranes and ruptured membranes.

Alix Boyle: Do you think that the concentrations of S100B were elevated in preterm labor patients with infections more than in ruptured membrane patients with infection?

Lara A. Friel, MD, PhD: Actually, that was found to be true, and we were surprised by that. It was found to be elevated with intraamniotic inflammation, histologic chorioamnionitis and funisitis in preterm labor patients with intact membranes, but in only intraamniotic inflammation and histologic chorioamnionitis in preterm PROM patients.

Alix Boyle: What leads you to believe that an elevation in a concentration of S100B may reflect inflammation rather than neurologic injury?

Lara A. Friel, MD, PhD: That’s a very good question. We actually found that it was elevated with infection and inflammation and then removed the patients, the neonates that subsequently had intraventricular hemorrhage, and had been found in prior studies to have an elevated S100B urinary concentration. The increased amniotic fluid S100B concentration remained after excluding those patients.

Alix Boyle: It’s a very interesting study, thank you Dr. Laura Friel.

Lara A. Friel, MD, PhD: Thank you.