Published online Nov 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i22.5529
Peer-review started: September 1, 2020
First decision: September 13, 2020
Revised: September 24, 2020
Accepted: October 1, 2020
Article in press: October 1, 2020
Published online: November 26, 2020
Processing time: 85 Days and 5.1 Hours
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and gestational hypertension (GH) exerts serious effects on the health of perinatal pregnant women and fetuses. Clinical screening of GDM and GH may attenuate the associated disorders in women and offspring. Currently, GDM diagnosis is based on evaluation of glucose tolerance tests at late stages of pregnancy but increased age, body weight and history of GDM may conditionate this criterion. For instance, it was found that using fasting plasma glucose criteria alone, more GDM diagnoses were missed in women ≥ 35 years than in women < 35 years. A simple and effective way is needed to predict GDM and GH in this population.
Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) has been implicated as a key proinflammatory cytokine involved in the pancreatic islet inflammation of diabetes mellitus. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) plays a central role in metabolic disorders and contributes to insulin resistance and diabetes pathophysiology. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is a soluble glycoprotein and is involved in different metabolic alterations such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension and metabolic syndrome. Thus, levels of IL-1β, HGF and OPG could be selected as biomarkers for disease status and progression of GDM and GH in pregnant women.
The aim of this study was to explore the efficacy of detection of placental and serum OPG, IL-1β and HGF for prediction and diagnosis of diabetes and hypertension in pregnant women.
In total, 44 pregnant women with GDM and GH were selected as an observation group, and 44 healthy pregnant women were selected as a control group in the same period. OPG, IL-1β and HGF were compared between the two groups.
The levels of OPG and HGF in the observation group were lower than in the control group, and the level of IL-1β was higher in the observation group than in the control group. Furthermore, OPG and HGF were negatively associated with GDM and GH, while IL-1β was positively associated with GDM complicated with GH.
The evaluation of serum OPG, HGF and IL-1β levels in patients with coexistent gestational diabetes complicated with hypertension can predict the degree of disease and play an important role in the follow-up treatment and prognosis prediction.
More clinical and validation studies should be conducted to further evaluate the performance of biomarkers of OPG, IL-1β and HGF for GDM and GH predication and diagnosis including sensitivity, specificity and accuracy before potential use of these biomarkers as predictors in clinical practice.