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Updated: May 8, 2026
Fetal Echocardiography and Pulsed-wave Doppler Ultrasound in a Rabbit Model of Intrauterine Growth Restriction
Published on: June 29, 2013
Vaginal miR-210-3p as a potential biomarker for pregnancies complicated by early fetal growth restriction: A
Elisabetta Bigagli1, Elisa Spataro2, Lucia Pasquini3
1Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health (NEUROFARBA), Section of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
Introduction:
Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is associated with increased risk of neonatal morbidity and mortality or long-term adverse outcomes. We investigated the ability of hypoxia and angiogenesis-related miR-210-3p and miR-126-5p to identify early FGR cases and their correlations with neonatal outcomes.
Methods:
Twenty-nine women with pregnancies complicated by early FGR diagnosis and 25 controls matched for gestational age (GA) were enrolled and their vaginal fluid (VF) and plasma were collected. MiR-210-3p and miR-126-5p were measured by RT-qPCR and their targets were identified by in-silico analysis limited only to those already experimentally validated in other contexts.
Results:
Overall, VF levels of miR-210-3p were lower in early FGR cases compared to controls (p < 0.05). miR-210-3p was lower in severe cases and in women who later developed preeclampsia (p < 0.05). VF miR-210-3p levels correlated with lower birth weight, premature birth and severe complications at birth (p < 0.05). miR-210-3p was not detected in plasma and no correlations were observed between miR-126-5p and FGR or neonatal outcomes. In silico analyses identified HIF-1α, HIF-3α, BDNF, IGFBP3, RAD52 and TWIST-1 as experimentally validated targets of miR-210-3p. Among the predicted biological pathways controlled by miR-210-3p, we found hypoxia-responsive signaling such as autophagy, oxidative stress and metabolic pathways.
Discussion:
Although validation is needed, these findings suggest that VF levels of miR-210-3p may potentially serve as biomarker for the diagnosis of early FGR; future mechanistic studies are also advisable to investigate whether pharmacological strategies based on miR-210-3p, or its downstream targets may be useful for FGR.
