Eotaxin-2 as a potential marker of preterm premature rupture of membranes: A prospective, cohort, multicenter study

Despite advances in medicine, there is currently no effective procedure for predicting and the early diagnosis of preterm premature rupture of membranes (pPROM).

To apply measurements of selected biochemical markers of inflammation for diagnosing cases of pPROM without clinical signs of infection.

This is a prospective cohort study. Three groups were compared, a study group: 82 women between 22 and 37 weeks of pregnancy hospitalized due to pPROM, a control group: 64 women between 22 and 37 weeks of pregnancy in the 1st stage of preterm labor with intact fetal membranes, and a reference group: 99 women between 37 and 42 weeks of pregnancy in the 1st stage of physiological term labor and intact fetal membranes. To assess the concentration of cytokines, a multiplex method was used for measurement of: IGFBP-1, IGFBP-2, BDNF, L-selectin, E-selectin, PECAM-1, ICAM-1, and VCAM-1, MIP-1d, MIP-3b, BLC, eotaxin-1, and eotaxin-2.

Out of the studied molecules, we found that eotaxin-2 concentrations in the study group were significantly lower than in the control group and the reference group: 9.22 pg/mL compared to 13.76 pg/mL and 14.14 pg/mL (p = 0.014), respectively. We also showed that serum concentration of eotaxin-2 below 8.24 pg/mL could be used as a cut-off level of pPROM (sensitivity: 0.58; specificity: 0.57).

Findings of significant differences in eotaxin-2 can be the basis for further studies on the use of this molecule as a biochemical marker of pPROM.