Serum CASP3 levels and cleaved caspase-3 protein expression in adenovirus-associated spontaneous abortion: diagnostic and apoptotic implications.

Authors

Lezan Medhat Mohammed

Published in

Archives of microbiology. Volume 208. Issue 11. Aug 11, 2026. Epub Aug 11, 2026.

Abstract

Adenoviral infection has been implicated in spontaneous abortion, but the relationship between adenovirus-associated pregnancy loss and systemic apoptotic activation remains incompletely understood. This study investigated serum caspase-3 (CASP3) concentrations and cleaved caspase-3 protein expression in women with adenovirus-associated spontaneous abortion and evaluated the diagnostic performance of serum CASP3. A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted including 90 pregnant women: 46 with adenovirus-associated spontaneous abortion and 44 healthy pregnant controls. Serum CASP3 concentrations were quantified by ELISA, and cleaved caspase-3 expression was evaluated by Western blot in an exploratory sub-cohort. Pearson correlation, multivariable linear regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed. Serum CASP3 was significantly elevated in the spontaneous abortion group relative to controls (5.60 ± 1.21 vs. 2.17 ± 0.49 ng/mL; p < 0.001). Western blot analysis revealed a 28.66 ± 4.80-fold upregulation of cleaved caspase-3 in the abortion cohort (relative expression: 4.30 ± 0.72 vs. 0.15 ± 0.01; p < 0.001). BMI was an independent positive predictor of serum CASP3, whereas hemoglobin demonstrated a significant inverse association. ROC analysis yielded an area under the curve of 0.844 (95% CI: 0.765-0.922), with an optimal diagnostic threshold of 3.45 ng/mL conferring 76.9% sensitivity and 88.6% specificity. Serum CASP3 concentrations and cleaved caspase-3 expression were significantly increased in women with adenovirus-associated spontaneous abortion, supporting an association with enhanced systemic apoptotic activity. Serum CASP3 demonstrated promising discriminatory performance within the study cohort; however, these findings require validation in larger prospective studies before clinical application.

PMID:
42579132
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 11 Aug 2026.

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