Research Article Diagnostic Potential of Evaluation of SDF-1 and sRAGE Levels in Threatened Premature Labor RafaB Rzepka, 1 Barbara DoBwgowska, 2 Aleksandra Rajewska, 1 Daria SaBata, 2 Marta Budkowska, 2 Sebastian Kwiatkowski, 1 and Andrzej Torbé 1 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pomeranian Medical University, Ulica Powsta´ nc´ ow Wielkopolskich 72, 70-111 Szczecin, Poland 2 Department of Laboratory Diagnostics and Molecular Medicine, Pomeranian Medical University, Ulica Powsta´ nc´ ow Wielkopolskich 72, 70-111 Szczecin, Poland Correspondence should be addressed to Rafał Rzepka; rafalrz123@gmail.com Received 27 April 2016; Revised 28 June 2016; Accepted 3 July 2016 Academic Editor: Mittal Suneeta Copyright © 2016 Rafał Rzepka et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preterm birth remains the most prevalent cause of neonatal morbidity. Tis study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of SDF-1, resistin, secretory RAGE (sRAGE), and endogenous secretory RAGE (esRAGE) in preterm labor. A total of 211 pregnant women participated in the study. Group A contained 72 women between 22 and 36 weeks of gestation, with premature labor, who fnally had preterm birth. Group B contained 66 women in labor between 37 and 41 weeks of gestation. Women in group A had lower SDF-1 and sRAGE levels than those in group B. Moreover, in group A, SDF-1 and sRAGE levels were correlated with the latency period from the occurrence of premature labor symptoms until delivery. Sensitivity and specifcity of studied parameters for prediction of preterm birth were 95% and 40% for SDF-1 and 51.3% and 93.5% for sRAGE, respectively. Te prognostic value of plasma SDF- 1 and sRAGE levels was comparable with that of cervical length ultrasound measurement and serum C-reactive protein levels. We conclude that SDF-1 and sRAGE appear to play a major role in the diagnosis of preterm birth and its evaluation could be convenient and useful for predicting preterm birth. 1. Introduction In developed countries, premature birth is the leading cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity, with disability as a con- sequence [1]. An extremely high neonatal risk is associated with delivery between 22 and 26 weeks of gestation. A total of 65% of neonates born in such early pregnancies die within 30 days as patients of intensive neonatal care wards [2]. Preterm delivery can be iatrogenic or spontaneous. Iatro- genic preterm birth is the result of medical intervention, usually due to fetal and/or maternal conditions (e.g., fetal growth restriction, and preeclampsia). Spontaneous preterm labor and delivery are a heterogeneous condition with many triggers and risk factors, including maternal genital tract hemorrhage, cervical dysfunction, idiopathic uterine con- tractions, malnutrition, multifetal pregnancy, and sponta- neous rupture of the fetal membranes [3, 4]. Te most prevalent cause of spontaneous preterm labor is local or generalized infection [5–7]. Infection leads to activation of the immune system via toll-like receptors and cytokine overproduction. Tis leads to an increase in the activity of prostaglandins and metalloproteinases, which are cardinal initiators of preterm uterine activity and/or preterm premature rupture of the membranes [8–10]. Susceptibility to intrauterine infection is inversely proportional to gestational age [11]. In cases of delivery between 22 and 24 weeks of gestation, the risk of chorioamnionitis is as high as 94.4% and decreases to only 3.8% at term [12]. Interestingly, the same vaginal bacteria can initiate preterm labor at 24 weeks of gestation, while at the 36th week these bacteria are not able to cause any disease [13]. Te cause of this phenomenon still remains unclear. Stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) is a chemokine from the CXC group. SDF-1 is produced mostly in bone Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2016, Article ID 2719460, 10 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/2719460