FEATURES OF IMMUNOLOGICAL BLOOD MARKERS IN PREMATURE NEWBORNS

Premature birth remains a global healthcare issue due to ongoing challenges in prediction and prevention. Current predictors are limited by low effectiveness, the need for invasive sampling, and the inability to identify at-risk patients in a timely manner to ensure effective intervention. Multiple etiologies of preterm birth often involve an inflammatory component. Therefore, a deeper understanding of the inflammatory mechanisms involved in preterm birth may provide opportunities for identifying new predictors of preterm labor. Research objective: To study certain indicators of immune status in premature newborns, taking into account feeding practices. Research materials and methods. The study involved 120 newborns, divided into 4 groups: the first control group consisted of 20 healthy newborns exclusively breastfed; the second control group included 20 healthy newborns receiving mixed feeding; the first main group consisted of 40 newborns with extremely low birth weight (ELBW) who were on parenteral nutrition with minimal amounts of expressed breast milk (EBM); the second main group included 40 newborns with low birth weight (LBW) who were on mixed enteral feeding, receiving 70% native EBM and 30% breast milk substitutes in their daily nutrition. Informed consent was obtained from the child's parents for participation in the study. Statistical processing was performed using licensed software Statistica (StatSoft Inc., Version 7) and Microsoft Excel (AtteStat, Version 12.5). The results of the study A correlation was observed between the serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels and both gestational age and birth weight. In the first main group, mean IgG levels were 1.6 times lower than those of healthy exclusively breastfed newborns. In the second main group, IgG levels were 2.5 times lower compared with the first control group, which was statistically significant and indicated the morphological immaturity of the immune system, correlating with the gestational age of the newborns. Interleukin 10 (IL-10) were elevated in newborns with ELBW in the first main group (11.02±1.18 pg/mL) and in the second main group with LBW (10.86±1.20 pg/mL), representing a 1.4-fold increase compared with the first control group (8.30±1.11 pg/mL) and a 1.7-fold increase compared with the second control group (6.25±0.59 pg/mL) (p<.05). Cytokine profiling in premature newborns revealed elevated interleukin 1β (IL-1β) levels in the first group (7.92±0.67 pg/mL) and in the second group (5.78±0.78 pg/mL). Conclusion. Cytokine analysis in premature newborns demonstrated increased IL-1β levels in the main groups compared with healthy newborns. IL-10 levels were also elevated by 1.4 times compared to control values. Serum IgG concentrations in ELBW neonates were 2.5 times lower than in healthy exclusively breastfed newborns, while serum immunoglobulin A (IgA) concentrations in the second main group (LBW neonates) were twice as high as in full-term newborns from both control groups.