Prematurity More Accurately Predicted by Advances in Proteomic Technology

Abnormal proteins in amniotic fluid that signal a higher risk of delivering prematurely are being detected with increasing accuracy by Yale School of Medicine researchers who presented their work in two abstracts at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Conference February 8 in San Francisco. In both studies, the researchers demonstrated that women with abnormal proteomic profiles (MR scores) are more likely to have inflammation and infection. The researchers previously developed the novel MR scoring method to discriminate healthy from diseased women in whom preterm delivery is impending and the health of the fetus is in danger. MR scoring relies on identification of a group of proteins that serve as biomarkers characteristic to women who will deliver preterm.