Role Of Serum Activin A In Diagnosis Of Neonatal Sepsis

Ahmed Ismail Zain Eldin Soliman^1*, Doaa Mohamed Youssef², Sherin A. Taha³

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ABSTRACT

Background: Neonatal sepsis remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early diagnosis is challenging due to nonspecific clinical signs and limitations of current biomarkers. Activin A, a cytokine belonging to the TGF-β superfamily, has emerged as a potential early indicator of inflammatory processes.

Aim: To assess serum level of Activin A as a diagnostic tool for sepsis once target neonate admitted to NICU.

Methods: This case–control study included 90 neonates admitted to the NICU at El-Obour Insurance Hospital, Kafr El-Sheikh, from April 2025 to November 2025. They were divided into: Group I: 45 neonates with sepsis and Group II: 45 apparently healthy neonates as controls. All underwent full history, clinical examination, hematological scoring, routine laboratory investigations, blood culture, and measurement of serum Activin A levels using ELISA.

Results: Serum Activin A levels were significantly higher in septic neonates compared to controls. Activin A showed a strong correlation with hematological scores and the Tollner sepsis score. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated excellent diagnostic performance, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.962, sensitivity of 93.33%, and specificity of 88.89%.

Conclusion: Serum Activin A is a promising biomarker for early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis, demonstrating high sensitivity and specificity and correlating well with sepsis severity scores.

Keywords: Neonatal sepsis, Activin A, Biomarker, ELISA, Tollner score, Hematological score.

How to cite this article: Soliman AIZE, Youssef DM, Taha SA. Role of serum Activin A in diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(10s): 936-945. DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.10s.109

Source of support: Nil.

Conflict of interest: None