Case finding of early pregnancies at risk of preeclampsia using maternal blood leptin/ceramide ratio: multi-omics discovery and validation from a longitudinal study

Objective To evaluate whether longitudinal measurements of serological adipokines and sphingolipids can predict preeclampsia early in gestation. Design Retrospective multi-omics discovery and longitudinal validation. Setting Maternity units in two US hospitals. Methods A multi-omics approach integrating genomic and lipidomic discoveries was employed to identify leptin (Lep) and ceramide (Cer) as novel PE early gestational biomarkers. The levels of placental growth factor (PlGF), soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase (sFlt-1), Lep, and Cer in maternal sera were then determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC/MS/MS) assays. Main outcome measures Interval from positive prediction to confirmative diagnosis. Results Genomic meta-analysis compiled six PE placental cohorts with 78 PE and 95 non-PE control placentas. The Testing Cohort included sera from 7 non-PE and 8 PE women collected at confirmatory diagnosis. The Validation Cohort included sera from 20 non-PE and 20 PE women collected longitudinally through gestation. Our findings revealed a marked elevation of maternal serum Leptin/Ceramide (d18:1/25:0) ratio from early gestation (a median of 23 weeks) when comparing later PE-complicated with uncomplicated pregnancies. The maternal Lep/Cer (d18:1/25:0) ratio significantly outperformed the established sFlt-1/PlGF ratio in predicting PE for sensitivity (85% vs. 40%), positive predictive value (89% vs. 42%), and AUC (0.92 vs. 0.52) from 5 to 25 weeks of gestation. Conclusions Non-invasive longitudinal assessment by serological evaluation of Lep/Cer (d18:1/25:0) ratio can case find early pregnancies at risk of preeclampsia, outperforming sFlt-1/PlGF ratio test. Tweetable abstract Non-invasive longitudinal assessment by serological evaluation of Lep and Cer ratio can predict preeclampsia early in gestation. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement No funding was received ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Study approval was obtained from ProMedDX Inc. and the Institutional Review Board at Stanford University. All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes The datasets used and/or analyzed in this study are available upon request to the corresponding author. * ACC : Acetyl-CoA carboxylase AUC : Area Under the Curve AMPKK/AMPK : AMP-activated protein kinase BMI : Body Mass Index Cer : Ceramide CI : Confidence Interval DHCer : Dihydroceramide ELISA : Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay GEO : Gene Expression Omnibus Lep : Leptin LC/MS/MS : Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry NPV : Negative Predictive Value PlGF : Placental Growth Factor PPV : Positive Predictive Value PE : Preeclampsia sFlt-1 : Soluble fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase Wk : Week