Plasma clusterin increased prior to Small for Gestational Age (SGA) associated with preeclampsia and decreased prior to SGA in normotensive pregnancies

In our search for early biomarkers for the pregnancy complicationssmall for gestational age (SGA) and preeclampsia (PE) we analysed plasma from 19-21 weeks gestation in women recruited into the SCOPE study, a prospective cohort of nulliparous women, by differential in gel electrophoresis (DIGE). DIGE revealed the differential expression of clusterin levels and its isoforms in top6-depleted plasma of women who delivered an SGA infant but remained normotensive (SGA-NT; N = 8) compared to healthy women with an uncomplicated pregnancy outcome (Controls, N = 8). Immunosorbent enzyme-linked assay (ELISA) showed that compared to plasma clusterin levels from healthy controls [71.1 (SD 12.4) μg/mL, n = 39], clusterin was decreased in SGA-NT [58.3 (SD 11.7), N = 20, P <0.0001], increased in women with SGA and PE [81.5 (SD 14.8), N = 20, P <0.01], but similar in PE alone [71.2 (SD 9.4)g/ml, P = 1.0]. Screening for clusterin levels and/or its different isoformsmay be useful in mid-pregnancy to identify women who subsequently develop SGA but remain normotensive or who develop preeclampsia with SGA. © The Author(s) 2012.