The relation between serum sialic acid levels and gestational trophoblastic diseases

Gestational trophoblastic diseases (GTD) describe the related diseases originatedfrom the placenta. The benign complete and partial hydatidiform mole have malignantpotential, which can not be identified initially. The aim of our research is to definewhether GTD with malignant potential have a significant relation with sialic acid (SA)levels, which increase significantly with tumor load in many cancer types.Thirty four patients with GTD (Group 1), 42 nonpregnant gynecologic patients(Groups 2), 38 healthy pregnant (Group 3), which are up to 12. week of gestation ascontrol groups were included in the study.To define whether acute phase reactant sialic acid has got any effect on the otheracute phase reactants, sedimentation rate, leukocyte count and CRP values, these fourreactants were investigated together. The patient groups with complete (n;23) and partial(n;11) mole gestation were compared with control groups and among themselves.Sedimentation rate, leukocyte count and CRP values showed statisticallysignificant differences among the groups (p=0.001, p=0.037, p=<0.001). But the patientgroup?s (group 1) values were higher than the control groups (Group 2,3). There was notany correlation between these three reactants with siailic acid when they wereevaluated separatedly in three groups.Sialic acid values showed statistically considerable differences among the groups(p=<0.001). Sialic acid values were significantly high in patients with GTD than thecontrol groups.The four acute phase reactants were not found statistically different between thecomplete and partial mole groups,In conclusion ; we found a significant relation betwen GTD and serum sialic acidlevels. The role of sialic acid levels to predict the progression and the regression GTDshould be established in further studies.Key Words: Gestational trophoblastic disease, Sialic acid, C reactive protein.