THE ROLE OF HPA AXIS IN PRETERM DELIVERY

这个子项目是众多研究子项目之一

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Our preliminary data suggests that women who deliver preterm have augmented immune responses as compared to women who delivered fullterm. Based on this data we hypothesize that women at risk for preterm delivery have abnormal HPA axis responses even during non-pregnant state; which can only be assessed accurately by using dynamic hormonal tests (ACTH, CRH and metyrapone tests). In order to test these hypotheses, we will call women who delivered preterm and their age, ethnicity and stress level matched control women who delivered fullterm for dynamic hormonal and immune system testing. We propose that this is a novel way of identifying women at risk for preterm delivery.