INTRODUCTION Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as birth occurring before 37 weeks' gestation, affects 5-9% of all pregnancies in developed countries, and is the leading cause of perinatal mortality. Spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) accounts for 31-50% of all PTB, but the underlying pathophysiology is poorly understood. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to decipher the lipidomics pathways involved in pathophysiology of sPTB. METHODS Blood samples were taken from SCreening fOr Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE), an international study that recruited 5628 nulliparous women, with a singleton low-risk pregnancy. Our analysis focused on plasma from SCOPE in Cork. Discovery profiling of the samples was undertaken using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry Lipidomics, and features significantly altered between sPTB (n = 16) and Control (n = 32) groups were identified using empirical Bayes testing, adjusting for multiple comparisons. RESULTS Twenty-six lipids showed lower levels in plasma of sPTB compared to controls (adjusted p < 0.05), including 20 glycerophospholipids (12 phosphatidylcholines, 7 phosphatidylethanolamines, 1 phosphatidylinositol) and 6 sphingolipids (2 ceramides and 4 sphingomyelines). In addition, a diaglyceride, DG (34:4), was detected in higher levels in sPTB compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS We report reduced levels of plasma phospholipids in sPTB. Phospholipid integrity is linked to biological membrane stability and inflammation, while storage and breakdown of lipids have previously been implicated in pregnancy complications. The contribution of phospholipids to sPTB as a cause or effect is still unclear; however, our results of differential plasma phospholipid expression represent another step in advancing our understanding of the aetiology of sPTB. Further work is needed to validate these findings in independent pregnancy cohorts.

中文翻译：

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血浆磷脂代谢与自然早产之间的关联：在软木塞怀孕队列中发现脂质组学分析。

引言早产（PTB）的定义是在妊娠37周之前出生，影响发达国家所有孕妇的5-9％，是围产期死亡的主要原因。自发性早产（sPTB）占所有PTB的31-50％，但其潜在的病理生理学知之甚少。目的本研究旨在探讨参与sPTB病理生理的脂质组学途径。方法血液样本来自SCreening fOr Pregnancy Endpoints（SCOPE），这是一项国际研究，该研究招募了5628名单胎低危妊娠的未产妇。我们的分析重点放在来自Cork的SCOPE的血浆中。使用液相色谱-质谱Lipidomics对样品进行发现分析，并使用经验贝叶斯测试确定了sPTB（n = 16）和对照组（n = 32）组之间显着改变的特征，并调整了多个比较。结果与对照组相比，二十二种脂质的sPTB血浆水平更低（调整后的p <0.05），包括20种甘油磷脂（12种磷脂酰胆碱，7种磷脂酰乙醇胺，1种磷脂酰肌醇）和6种鞘脂（2种神经酰胺和4种鞘磷脂）。此外，与对照组相比，在sPTB中检测到的甘油二酸酯DG（34：4）含量更高。结论我们报道了sPTB中血浆磷脂水平的降低。磷脂的完整性与生物膜的稳定性和炎症有关，而脂质的储存和分解以前与妊娠并发症有关。尚不清楚磷脂对sPTB的贡献。但是，我们差异血浆磷脂表达的结果代表了我们对sPTB病因学认识的又一步。需要进一步的工作来验证独立妊娠队列中的这些发现。