Circulating Delta-like homolog 1 (DLK1) at 36 weeks is correlated with birthweight and is of placental origin

TM MacDonald; SP Walker; R Hiscock; P Cannon; A Harper; E Murray; L Hui; K Dane; A Middleton; V Kyritsis; N de Alwis; NJ Hannan; S Tong; TJ Kaitu'u-Lino

Journal article

Circulating Delta-like homolog 1 (DLK1) at 36 weeks is correlated with birthweight and is of placental origin

TM MacDonald, SP Walker, R Hiscock, P Cannon, A Harper, E Murray, L Hui, K Dane, A Middleton, V Kyritsis, N de Alwis, NJ Hannan, S Tong, TJ Kaitu'u-Lino

Placenta | W B SAUNDERS CO LTD | Published : 2020

DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2020.01.003

Abstract

Introduction: Recently, Delta-like homolog 1 (DLK1) was identified as a potential marker of small-for-gestational-age (SGA; <10th centile) fetuses; mouse studies suggest reduced levels may represent a fetal stress signal. We sought to measure DLK1 in a large independent cohort of maternal blood samples, correlate levels with measures of placental insufficiency and assess whether DLK1 might be placental derived. Methods: The Fetal Longitudinal Assessment of Growth (FLAG) study was a prospective blood collection from 2000 women. We assessed a case-control cohort at 28 and 36 weeks from the first 1000 FLAG women, before validating changes in the entire second 1000. A subgroup of FLAG participan..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Teresa MacDonald Author

Susan Walker Author

Richard Hiscock Author

Ping Cannon Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

Funding for this work was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (#1065854), Foresight Health, The Stillbirth Foundation and the Norman Beischer Medical Research Foundation; Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship, and RANZCOG Taylor Hammond Scholarship to TM; National Health and Medical Research Council Fellowships to TKL (#1159261), ST (#1136418), LH (#1105603). The funders had no role in the study.