Association between phospholipid metabolism in plasma and spontaneous preterm birth: a discovery lipidomic analysis in the cork pregnancy cohort

INTRODUCTION: Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as birth occurring before 37 weeks’ gestation, affects 5–9% of all pregnancies in developed countries, and is the leading cause of perinatal mortality. Spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) accounts for 31–50% of all PTB, but the underlying pathophysiology is poorly understood. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to decipher the lipidomics pathways involved in pathophysiology of sPTB. METHODS: Blood samples were taken from SCreening fOr Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE), an international study that recruited 5628 nulliparous women, with a singleton low-risk pregnancy. Our analysis focused on plasma from SCOPE in Cork. Discovery profiling of the samples was undertaken using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry Lipidomics, and features significantly altered between sPTB (n = 16) and Control (n = 32) groups were identified using empirical Bayes testing, adjusting for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Twenty-six lipids showed lower levels in plasma of sPTB compared to controls (adjusted p < 0.05), including 20 glycerophospholipids (12 phosphatidylcholines, 7 phosphatidylethanolamines, 1 phosphatidylinositol) and 6 sphingolipids (2 ceramides and 4 sphingomyelines). In addition, a diaglyceride, DG (34:4), was detected in higher levels in sPTB compared to controls. CONCLUSIONS: We report reduced levels of plasma phospholipids in sPTB. Phospholipid integrity is linked to biological membrane stability and inflammation, while storage and breakdown of lipids have previously been implicated in pregnancy complications. The contribution of phospholipids to sPTB as a cause or effect is still unclear; however, our results of differential plasma phospholipid expression represent another step in advancing our understanding of the aetiology of sPTB. Further work is needed to validate these findings in independent pregnancy cohorts. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11306-020-1639-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.