A new research paper published in the Journal of Pediatrics suggests that cord blood growth factors may be used to identify premature infants at risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia-associated pulmonary hypertension (BPD-PH).  It is an often-fatal disease where blood vessels fail to carry enough blood from the heart to the lungs.

By identifying infants with this condition at an earlier stage, doctors will be able to intervene and prevent the condition from progressing.  This discovery could save the lives of many premature babies.

Lead author of the paper, Dr. Karen Mestan, explains the importance of the findings, saying: “We have many promising interventions and it would be exciting to start them at birth in babies at risk, before they become extremely sick.  Currently we do not use cord blood for prediction of disease, but our study shows that it has tremendous potential to save lives.”

Dr Mestan and her colleagues had access to a large repository of cord blood and placental tissues.  They looked for specific biomarkers that were associated with placental lesions.  These lesions are responsible for causing insufficient blood flow between the uterus and the foetus.

They discovered that there were lower levels of two cord blood growth factors, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and placental growth factor (PlGF), in patients with the placental lesions.  They tested the findings on a large sample of infants born prematurely and found that testing for these cord blood growth factors was an accurate way to determine the presence of the condition. 

More studies are required to determine how precisely the test will identify infants at risk of BPD-PH, but these initial findings are very positive.

Source: Growth factors in cord blood may help identify preemies at risk for fatal lung disease

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