“Next Generation Biomarkers in Perinatal Medicine: S100B Protein”

Key words: infants, perinatal brain injury, biomarker S100B

In recent years there has been an increased evidence of the usefulness of biomarkers for CNS damage diagnosis and monitoring in high risk infants. In this thesis, we have investigated the role of S100B in infants affected by perinatal asphyxia exploring the putative S100B extra-source of release, such as kidney; the predictive value of adverse neurological outcome and death in full-term asphyxiated infants; and provided the reference curve for S100B in the II-III trimester of pregnancy.

The present work contributes to better understand the potential role of S100B as biomarker in the early detection of perinatal brain injury.