A blood test could predict whether babies starved of oxygen at birth are at risk of neurological-related disabilities and conditions including cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Neonatal encephalopathy (NE) is the most common cause of death and neurodisability in babies that go to full term, with an incidence of between two and three per 1,000 live births in high-income countries, where up to 55 per cent of babies with moderate and severe cases of NE have adverse long-term outcome, according to the paper.
A team of researchers from Imperial College London, in collaboration with researchers from the US, Italy and India, carried out a test that looks for certain genes linked to neurological conditions, of which babies starved of oxygen at birth are more at risk.
In a small study of 45 babies, who all were deprived of oxygen at birth, researchers were able to identify changes to their genes that indicated they could go on to develop neurological problems.
The babies’ blood was tested within six hours of them being born for changes to the switching on and off of particular genes, and they were followed up 18 months later.
From this, the researchers found more than 800 genes that were expressed differently in the babies who developed neurological conditions and those who didn’t. Overall, two genes in particular showed differences.
Senior author Sudhin Thayyil, from the Centre for Perinatal Neuroscience at Imperial, said: “The results from these blood tests will allow us to gain more insight into disease mechanisms that are responsible for brain injury and allow us to develop new therapeutic interventions or improve those which are already available.”
The researchers now plan to expand this testing to a larger number of babies.
“If these findings can be replicated in larger cohort of babies with NE,” the paper states, “It may open new therapeutic avenues and to develop new neuroprotection therapies in the future.”
