Preeclampsia in pregnancy – the appearance of high blood pressure and protein in the urine – can put both the mother and the fetus at serious risk, therefore detecting it early is key to reducing the risk. A study by researchers at King’s and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in association with Mirvie has uncovered molecular profiles of this disorder that could be detected in women by analyzing a blood sample.
This finding promises to predict the onset of preeclampsia in pregnant women, even before the first symptoms appear, which usually appear in the third trimester. And, therefore, pregnant women at risk could be monitored and treated early, having better results and safeguarding their health and that of their babies.
In the work, 2,500 blood samples from eight prospectively collected cohorts were examined. Afterwards, the anonymized fRNA profiles, signals from the fetus and the tissues of the pregnant mother were analyzed, which offer data on fetal development and on the progression of the pregnancy, all in a non-invasive way, so it does not affect either the pregnant woman or the fetus.
Detect preeclampsia before symptoms appear
The results, published in the journal Nature, show that just a blood sample from the mother could identify women at risk of developing pre-eclampsia, even before the disease appears. Thanks to machine learning, which analyzes tens of thousands of RNA messages from the mother, baby and placenta, 75% of women who develop pre-eclampsia can be identified.
Thanks to machine learning, which analyzes tens of thousands of RNA messages from mother, baby and placenta, 75% of women who develop pre-eclampsia can be identified
Rachel Tribe, one of the study’s authors, said, “I am delighted to be involved in this important collaborative effort to develop a new tool to predict preeclampsia. Using a state-of-the-art sequencing approach, we were able to detect cell-free RNA (cfRNA) in the blood of pregnant women. These provided a molecular signature that can be used to identify women at risk of pre-eclampsia.”
The researchers are continuing to study this discovery in order to further validate these results and hope that this trial can be scaled up to investigate other complications of pregnancy, such as preterm birth. “The molecular signature tells us something about the mechanisms associated with pregnancy health and complications, including pre-eclampsia; such knowledge will help the development of treatment strategies in the future”, concludes Tribe.
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