Biological markers in cord blood for prediction of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in premature infants

Objective: The current study aims to determine the contents of biological markers in cord blood and to investigate their feasibility as the predictive indices of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in premature infants. Materials and Methods: Cord blood was collected from 134 premature infants that had birth weight ≤ 1500 g and gestational age (GA) ≤ 32 weeks at the time of birth. The contents of IL- 6, IL-6R, Sgp130, and MMP-9 were determined. Infants’ clinical data, as well as their mothers’ placental pathological data were also collected. Infants with BPD constituted the BPD group, whereas those without BPD comprised the non-BPD (NBPD) group. Differences in the contents of the biological markers between the groups were analyzed to investigate the correlations of these markers with BPD, and then biological markers that can serve as the predictive factors of BPD were defined. Results: GA was negatively correlated with BPD. IL-6, IL-6R, and Sgp130 in the BPD group was higher than those in the NBPD group, whereas MMP-9 in the BPD group was lower than that in the NBPD group. IL-6 was positively correlated with BPD and therefore had a predictive effect on BPD. Sgp130 had a collinear correlation with IL-6, which had a predictive effect on BPD as well. When GA was 46.125 pg/ml, the sensitivity, specificity, and area under curve were 1, 0.59, and 0.849, respectively, indicating a good predictive effect on BPD. Conclusion: IL-6 and Sgp130 can serve as the independent predictive cytokines of BPD.