GDF15 in the Physiological Human Pregnancy: Novel Data and A Systematic Review

Abstract

The involvement of GDF15 protein in modulating the processes of cellular migration and adhesion, tissue remodeling and inflammatory responses suggests that this factor may be of high importance for pregnancy establishment and its further maintenance. Analyzing pregnancy-associated dynamics of the factor confers a valuable addition to the case-control studies and can help advance our understanding of the fundamentals of the factor’s involvement in pregnancy. However, as seen from the systematic literature review presented in this paper, current data set significant questions on roles of GDF15 in pregnancy. Additionally, a significant controversy is seen in the literature regarding the gestational dynamics of GDF15. Thus, we tried to contribute to the field by assessing the dynamics of serum GDF15 protein in the course of the physiological human pregnancy. We found that serum maternal GDF15 levels increase by almost two orders of magnitude with progression of pregnancy from the mid-first trimester towards the early second trimester and then towards the term. These data were further compared with those found in the literature