[Significance of the maternal levels of serum alpha-fetoprotein, human chorionic gonadotropin and unconjugated estriol in various congenital developmental defects in pregnancy trimester II]. / Znacheniia urovnei materinskogo syvorotochnogo al'fa-fetoproteina, khorionicheskogo gonadotropina cheloveka i nekon"iugirovannogo estriola pri riade vrozhdennykh porokov razvitiia vo II trimestre beremennosti.

ABSTRACT

Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (MSAFP), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and unconjugated oestriol (uE3) concentrations were measured in maternal serum samples from 21 pregnancies with neural-tube defects, 4 pregnancies with ventral wall defects (VWD) and 1662 unaffected pregnancies in women. These congenital malformations were confirmed by ultrasound scanning. The mean multiplate of the median (MoM) for AFP and uE3 was significantly different from the control values in cases of open NTD (AFP median MoM = 5.95, p < 0.001, uE3 median MoM = 0.2, p < 0.001), while hCG values did not differ from those of matched controls (hCG median MoM = 0.9). The biological basis of altered levels of uE3 in pregnancies with fetal NTDs is unclear.