Maternal serum ADAM12 in Chinese women undergoing screening for aneuploidy in the first trimester

To evaluate the potential of maternal serum using a disintegrin and metalloprotease 12 (ADAM12) as a marker for Trisomy 21 in Chinese pregnant women.

Serum samples were collected and stored from women having a viable singleton pregnancy undergoing first trimester screening for Trisomy 21 between 2006 and 2007. Serum concentration of ADAM12 was measured using an automated time-solved immuno-fluorometric assay from 608 stored serum samples (601 Euploidy and 7 Trisomy 21). Regression analysis was used to determine the expected median in Euploidy pregnancies after adjusting for pregnancy characteristics. The level of ADAM12 MoM was compared between Trisomy 21 and Euploidy pregnancies. Expected median levels in Chinese were compared to that published for Caucasians and Afro-Caribbeans.

In Euploidy pregnancies, the concentration of ADAM12 increased with CRL and decreased with maternal weight. The expected median level of ADAM12 in Chinese was significantly lower than Caucasian and Afro-Caribbeans (F=14.2, p<0.0001). There was a significant correlation between log10ADAM12 MoM both log10 pregnancy-associated plasma protein A MoMs (r=0.46; p<0.001) and log10free βhCG MoMs (r=0.08; p=0.048). The median ADAM12 MoM in Trisomy 21 pregnancies was not significantly different from that in Euploidy pregnancies (z=0.18; p=0.88).

ADAM12 concentrations in Chinese are lower than those of Caucasians and Afro-Carribeans; that ADAM12 MoM levels in Euploidy and Trisomy 21 pregnancies were not statistically different.