Prediction of ABO hemolytic disease of the newborn using prenatal quantification of maternal vascular endothelial cadherin and anti-A/anti-B IgG titer in China

Objective: To study the value of maternal vascular endothelial cadherin (VE-cadherin) level and anti-A/B IgG titer in the prenatal diagnosis of ABO hemolytic disease. Methods: We conducted a case-control study of blood group O Rh(D) positive mothers according to the occurrence of ABO-HDFN in newborns. Then the level of maternal VE-cadherin and anti-A /B IgG titer of the two groups were compared and analyzed, and their correlation with total bilirubin in children, and their value for the prenatal diagnosis of ABO-HDFN was analyzed. Results: The VE-cadherin level and anti-A/B IgG titer of pregnant women in the ABO-HDFN group were higher than those of the control group (P<0.001). There was a positive correlation between VE-cadherin level and total bilirubin (r=0.3520, P<0.05) in the ABO-HDFN group, but no significant correlation between IgG titer and TBIL (r=0.1289, P=0.4605). The AUC of the VE-cadherin level was 0.762, the sensitivity and the specificity was 80.95%, 63.16%; the AUC, sensitivity and specificity of IgG titer were 0.862, 88.10% and 71.05%, respectively. The AUC, sensitivity and specificity of the combined diagnosis were 0.915, 92.86% and 84.21%, respectively. Conclusion: The level of maternal VE-cadherin and anti-A/B IgG titer have important reference value for the prenatal diagnosis of ABO-HDFN, and they have good joint diagnostic efficacy.