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Pregnancy

Metabolon Identifies Preterm Labor Biomarkers (Medical News Today-7 July 2010)

Metabolon, Inc., the leader in global metabolism, biomarker discovery and analysis, announces the
publication of "Metabolomics in premature labor- a novel approach to identify patients at risk for preterm
delivery", in The Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine.

The study, carried out in collaboration with co-authors Dr. Roberto Romero and colleagues of the
NICHD, NIH, and DHHS, aimed to identify prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers of preterm delivery in
women with spontaneous preterm labor (PTL) and intact membranes. Spontaneous preterm labor does not
always lead to preterm delivery and the accurate and rapid identification of the risk of preterm delivery to
pregnant women with PTL is needed for physicians to make immediate patient management decisions.

The report describes the identification of biomarkers for PTL and delivery and concludes that the risk of
preterm delivery, in the presence or absence of infection and inflammation, can be assessed by metabolic
profiling of amniotic fluid. In addition, the report presents a preliminary draft of the human amniotic fluid
metabolome from women with PTL that shows biochemical intermediates of human metabolism as well
as xenobiotics such as salicylamide and bacterial products can be measured in human amniotic fluid.