A serum proteomics approach to the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy.

摘要: An ectopic pregnancy (EP) occurs when implantation of the embryo outside uterus. If left untreated, developing fetus will continue to grow, leading life-threatening consequences for mother. A major difficulty with diagnosis is that methods detection are limited, and some, such as ultrasound, not very reliable in earliest days gestation. Currently, no effective serum test exists distinguish an from a normal intrauterine pregnancy. The incidence increasing has doubled last 20 years. It now second most common cause maternal death first trimester To address this issue, we initiated project identify markers subjects these studies presented at Hospital University Pennsylvania. We obtained over 140 samples women suspected pregnancy: presenting pain and/or bleeding approximate racial breakdown follows: African American, 36%; Caucasian, 3%; Asian, 2%; Hispanic, 1%; unknown, 58%. Serum 139 (62 77 pregnancy) were applied WCX2 (weak ion exchange) protein chip surfaces analyzed using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS). Several proteins 7500-18,000 Da range identified may discriminate promising classification regression tree analysis (CART) without clinical variables (serum hCG value, length amenorrhea). Two different algorithms developed classify patients on basis sensitivity (number EPs who screen positive/# EPs) or specificity (# healthy negative/# healthy). Our current approach refine two "rule sets" segregate into three groups: those need immediate intervention probable pregnancy, appear have further monitoring diagnosis.