Circulating exosomal miRNA profile during term and preterm birth pregnancies – a longitudinal study

The objective of this study was to characterise the changes in the exosomal miRNA concentrations circulating in the maternal plasma between mothers delivering term and preterm neonates, across gestation using a longitudinal study design. A retrospective stratified study design was used to characterize the miRNA content in exosomes present in maternal plasma of term (n=20 per time point) and preterm birth (PTB) (n=10 per time point) across gestation (i.e. first, second and third trimester). miRNAs were profiled from exosomes using next generation seqeuencing (Illumina NextSeq 500 platform).