Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a disease specific to pregnancy, featuring maternal itching and elevated serum bile acid levels. It leads to a series of adverse pregnancy outcomes as well as increased fetal mortality. Routine biochemical markers fail to fulfill the tremendous clinical requirements, thereby novel effective biomarkers are urgently desired. In our review, the potential novel biomarkers for ICP diagnosis are classified into four categories and elaborated in detail. The concrete diagnostic performances (sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve) of these biomarkers are demonstrated in tables. Moreover, the relationships between some biomarkers and ICP pathogenesis are briefly expounded. Nevertheless, only a few novel biomarkers are ideal, and their clinical applicability requires more evidence from larger multicenter trials.
Keywords: area under the curve; diagnostic biomarker; enzymatic biomarker; exosomal RNA; exosomal protein; intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy; protein biomarker; sensitivity; specificity.