Dynamics of sHLA-G across pregnancy in mothers delivering SGA neonates and those delivering AGA neonates
The levels of sHLA-G1/-G5 proteins in the blood sera of pregnant women (collected at < 14 weeks, 18-20 weeks, 26-28 weeks, at delivery and postpartum i.e., 42 days to 6 months post-delivery) delivering SGA or AGA infants was estimated by sandwich ELISA. sHLA-G concentrations are reported as median and interquartile range in Table2. sHLA-G levels were below detection limit at 26-28 weeks in 3 controls and 1 case, and at delivery in 1 control and 2 cases. Maternal sera were available for sHLA-G detection at postpartum only in 8 controls and 12 cases.
Loess regression analysis revealed that sHLA-G levels were highest at the start of gestation and start decreasing as pregnancy progresses to term in both cases and control pregnancies. The loess curves revealing the trend of sHLA-G in mothers delivering SGA or AGA are shown in Figure 2.