The College of Pharmacy discussed the MSc thesis entitled “Assessment of Serum Level of Omentin-1 and Mid-Regional Pro-Adrenomedullin in Iraqi Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus” by the student Sonia Emad Naser and the supervisor, Professor DR. Eman Saddi Saleh, at the Clinical Laboratory Sciences Department.The study aimed to measure the serum levels of Omentin-1 and MR-pro-ADM in pregnant women with and without gestational diabetes during the third trimester of pregnancy to find the possibility of using these biomarkers for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus. Additionally, the study aims to explore the potential correlation between these biomarkers and glycemic control.An observational case-control study was conducted on Iraqi pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy with normal glycemic control and those with gestational diabetes mellitus who had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes during pregnancy. The participants were chosen from AL Alawiya Maternity Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. A total of ninety pregnant women were involved in the study and categorized into two groups: the first group consisted of forty-five pregnant women who were diagnosed with GDM, serving as the patient group. And the second group consisted of forty-five healthy pregnant women without GDM as the control group. By taking from each participant a 10 ml fasting venous blood sample in a gel tube and centrifuging it in order to extract the serum to be used for measuring: fasting serum glucose, glycated hemoglobin, homeostatic model for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), ometin-1, mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin, and fasting serum insulin. The last three markers were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.The study’s findings support MR-pro-ADM, and omentin-1 may serve as biomarkers for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus, a condition that affects a large number of pregnant women. When compared to healthy controls, women with gestational diabetes mellitus had higher serum levels of MR-pro-ADM. While serum omentine-1 levels were lower in gestational diabetes mellitus women. Furthermore, omentine-1 was negatively correlated, and MR-pro-ADM was positively correlated with HbA1c, FSI, HOMA-IR, and FSG.The study recommended that further longitudinal, larger clinical studies, rather than case-control studies, are needed to find out if lower circulating Omentin-1 levels and higher MR-pro-ADM levels increase the risk of GDM in pregnant women, and the assessment of these biomarkers can aid in the prospective estimation of prognosis and early diagnosis.
