Soluble tumor necrosis factor-α receptor 2 in urine is a potential biomarker for noninvasive diagnosis of malaria during pregnancy

Abstract

Background. During pregnancy, the placenta is inaccessible for diagnosis of placental malaria (PM), but soluble tumor necrosis factor-α receptors (sTNFR) are elevated in the plasma of women with PM.Methods. In this study, sTNFR-1 and sTNFR-2 were quantified in urine of pregnant and nonpregnant Cameroonian women who were positive or negative for malaria by blood-smear microscopy.Results. We found that levels of both sTNFR in urine were higher in pregnant compared with nonpregnant women, but malaria-positive pregnant women excreted substantially more sTNFR-1 (P = .005) and sTNFR-2 (P < .001) than malaria-negative pregnant women. The amount of sTNFR-1(rs = 0.784, P < .001) and sTNFR-2 (rs = 0.816, P