Scientists make pre-eclampsia breakthrough
Pre-eclampsia affects about five per cent of all pregnancies worldwide
Monday, 12, May 2008 10:32
Scientists have discovered a potential test and treatment target for the pregnancy disorder pre-eclampsia.
The disorder affects about five per cent of all pregnancies worldwide and is the leading cause of all maternal and neonatal deaths.
Researchers at the Beth Deaconess Medical Centre found that the COMT gene plays a role in pre-eclampsia and that a steroid molecule named 2-ME could be both a target for tests and therapeutic supplement for treatment of the disorder.
The COMT enzyme contributes to the breakdown of oestrogen into 2-ME.
In tests the researchers found that COMT levels were deficient and 2-ME levels were lower in pregnant women with pre-eclampsia.
After discovering this, the team studied genetically engineered COMT-deficient mice.
They found that the animals failed to produce 2-ME and at 14-weeks gestation - the presumed equivalent of the beginning of the third trimester in human pregnancy - the mice developed protein leak in the urine, high blood pressure and problems with placental blood vessels associated with decreased oxygen levels.
The animals also delivered about a day earlier than normal pregnant mice and there was a greater rate of stillborn pups.
When 2-ME was administered to the mice, this resulted in a reversal of pre-eclampsia-like symptoms.
Dr Raghu Kalluri, the study's senior author, said loss of 2-ME appears to "set in motion a cascade of events culminating in pre-eclampsia".
"Interestingly, the many diverse factors that have been identified in the recent years as elevated or suppressed in women with pre-eclampsia are fixed by 2-ME, suggesting that this action of COMT is central to proper vascular function in the placenta," said Dr Kalluri.
"This study offers the possibility of screening for COMT gene defects in pregnant women to predict preeclampsia."