Pre-eclampsia

Novel blood test(s) to predict pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy complication characterized by the concomitant occurrence of a pregnancy induced hypertension and proteinuria, the presence of protein in the urine. Being a condition of late pregnancy, pre-eclampsia can severely impact the health of mother and child. For the mother it can lead to acute problems in the liver, kidneys, brain and the clotting system. Additionally, epidemiological studies have demonstrated that pre-eclampsia is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases later in the mother’s life. Risks for the baby include poor growth, prematurity and future cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Although pre-eclampsia affects 3-7% of all pregnancies and its implications can be severe, it was for many years an understudied area. Even now, the causes of pre-eclampsia remain largely elusive, hampering the development of rational strategies for prevention and treatment, making pre-eclampsia a major cause of preterm birth. As a result the economical burden of pre-eclampsia is significant as both mother and child often require specialized care.

Traditionally the risk to develop pre-eclampsia during pregnancy is estimated by an assessment of the maternal medical history. However, with this method only a limited number of the pre-eclampsia patients are identified early in gestation, whilst many other pregnancies are needlessly classified to be at risk.

Using its proprietary MASStermind^® - MASSterclass™ discovery engines, Pronota has identified a number of biomarkers candidates that can complement maternal medical history assessment in the prediction of pre-eclampsia. Our first clinical validation study of these novel biomarkers suggests that accurate prediction of pre-eclampsia early in pregnancy is possible with unprecedented sensitivity and specificity.

Timely prediction of pre-eclampsia will allow at-risk pregnancies to be guided into intensive monitoring programs that would allow doctors to prevent many of the adverse outcomes associated with pre-eclampsia. At the same time, the novel biomarkers may contribute in understanding the underlying mechanisms leading to pre-eclampsia as well as enabling the development of treatment strategies.