February 25th, 2011

Penn Medicine reports:

Scientists at The Wistar Institute and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered protein markers that could provide physicians with the first reliable blood test to predict ectopic pregnancies. Their findings are published in the February 16th on-line issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. In a related small-scale study of clinical samples, published recently in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the researchers found that one of the proteins – ADAM12 – showed a nearly 97 percent correlation with ectopic pregnancy.

Ectopic pregnancies occur when a woman’s fertilized egg develops outside of the uterus, most often in the Fallopian tubes.  As the embryo grows, the tube could rupture, which results in the loss of the embryo and threatens the life of the mother.  Ectopic pregnancies occur in about one in 40 to 100 pregnancies. They are the leading cause of death in the first trimester of pregnancy. Currently, diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy relies on the use of ultrasound and there is no single proven blood test.