Background: Calprotectin is calcium-binding protein which can be found in the cytosol of neutrophils. Several studies have studied its levels in preeclamptic women; however, to date there is no consensus regarding its effectiveness in the field.
Purpose: To investigate whether serum calprotectin levels are elevated among preeclamptic women compared to healthy controls.
Materials and methods: We used Medline (1966-2015), Scopus (2004-2015), ClinicalTrials.gov (2008-2015), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials CENTRAL (1999-2015) and Google Scholar (2004-2015) search engines in our primary search, together with reference lists from included studies.
Results: Seven studies were finally included in our systematic review which recruited 439 women (245 with preeclampsia and 194 healthy controls). Their methodological quality was relatively high as they reached a score that ranged between 6 and 7 according to the Ottawa-Newcastle classification. All included studies reported that the serum calprotectin levels were significantly elevated among preeclamptic patients (p < 0.05). One study suggested that patients with severe preeclampsia have significantly higher levels of calprotectin than patients with mild preeclampsia (p = 0.01). However, to date there is no evidence regarding specific cut-off values which would help screen women for preeclampsia, or even follow the course of the disease.
Conclusion: Current evidence suggests that serum calprotectin is significantly raised among women with preeclampsia during the third trimester. Future research is needed to reach firm conclusions regarding its use as a potential screening and surveillance marker during the pregnancy course of women at risk of developing preeclampsia.
Keywords: Calgranulin; Calprotectin; Preeclampsia; Pregnancy; S100A8/A9.