S100B measurement in the maternal blood: a new promising tool for fetal well-being/distress monitoring?

Adverse event in the perinatal period constitutes today the wider bulk of investigation. Perinatal asphyxia (PA) and prematurity are the common causes of injury of high risk pregnancies (HR) and can lead to perinatal death or cognitive and neuro-motor impairment in later life. Despite the use of clinical, laboratory, ultrasound and radiological monitoring procedures, for the estimation of the severity of pre-perinatal brain injury and prognosis, there is still a demand for an early and objective diagnostic and prognostic parameter. Former research suggests that several neurobiomarkers could serve as potential both diagnostic and prognostic tools in HR and newborns. Among them, S100B is a well-known biomarker that could be assessed in different biological fluids such as maternal blood. The inclusion in clinical daily practice of a biomarker, measurable in the maternal blood, able to detect at earliest stage fetal/neonatal neurological damage is of utmost importance. Therefore, in the present review we offer an update of the potential usefulness of the measurement in the maternal blood of a well-established marker of perinatal brain development/damage namely S100B.