Interleukin-15 (IL-15) and anti-C1q antibodies as serum biomarkers for ectopic pregnancy and missed abortion

Clin Dev Immunol. 2013:2013:637513. doi: 10.1155/2013/637513. Epub 2013 Jan 17.

Abstract

Given the present lack of clinically useful tests for the accurate diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy (EP), there is a need to select out those immunological factors measured in the maternal serum, as potential biomarkers. Our assumption was that C1q/anti-C1q antibody complexes and serum levels of interleukin-15 (IL-15) may play a role in differentiating abortions (MAs) and EPs and normal pregnancies. We assessed whether their measurement could set the diagnosis in a case control study at 6-8 weeks consisting of 60 women with failed early pregnancy (30 EPs, 30 MAs) and 33 women with intrauterine pregnancies. Normal pregnancies contain anti-C1q antibodies more frequently compared to women with failed pregnancies, the lowest levels being found in EPs, but this lacked statistical significance and anti-C1q could not serve as a marker. However EP pregnancies had elevated IL-15 levels that could statistically significantly differentiate them from MAs and IUPs. Furthermore, when assessing IL-15 for the clinically important differentiation between IUP and EP, we found at a cut-off of 16 pg/mL a negative predictive value of 99 with a sensitivity for diagnosing an EP of 92%. According to these results, serum IL-15 is a promising marker differentiating an MA from an EP.

MeSH terms

  • Abortion, Spontaneous / diagnosis*
  • Abortion, Spontaneous / immunology
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Antibodies / metabolism
  • Biomarkers / blood
  • Complement C1q / immunology
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Interleukin-15 / blood*
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy, Ectopic / diagnosis*
  • Pregnancy, Ectopic / immunology
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Biomarkers
  • Interleukin-15
  • Complement C1q