A single-center study to evaluate the efficacy of a fetal urine peptide signature predicting postnatal renal outcome in fetuses with posterior urethral valves

Background Posterior urethral valves (PUVs) account for 17% of pediatric renal failure. The management of pregnancies involving fetuses with PUV is hampered by the fact that current clinical parameters obtained from fetal ultrasound and/or fetal urine biochemistry are insufficient to predict postnatal renal function. We previously have developed a fetal urine peptide signature (12PUV) that predicted with high precision postnatal renal failure at 2 years of age in fetuses with PUV. Here, we evaluated the accuracy of this signature to predict postnatal renal outcome in fetuses with PUV in an independent single-center study. Methods Thirty-three women carrying fetuses with suspected PUV were included. Twenty-five fetuses received vesicoamniotic shunts during pregnancy. PUV was confirmed postnatally in 23 patients. Of those 23 fetuses, 2 were lost in follow-up. Four and 3 patients died in the pre- and perinatal periods, respectively. Follow-up renal function at 6 months of age was obtained for the remaining 14 patients. The primary outcome was early renal failure, defined by an eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m 2 before 6 months of age or pre- or perinatal death. Results The peptide signature predicted postnatal renal outcome in postnatally confirmed PUV fetuses with an AUC of 0.94 (95%CI 0.74–1.0) and an accuracy of 90% (95%CI 78–100). The signature predicted postnatal renal outcome for the suspected PUV cases with an AUC of 0.89 (95%CI 0.72–0.97) and an accuracy of 84% (95%CI 71–97). Conclusions This single-center study confirms the predictive power of the previously identified 12PUV fetal urinary peptide signature.