NEW ZEALAND: Pregnant women disease treatment

New research may lead to the early detection of preeclampsia, a condition that threatens eight million pregnant women's livers and kidneys worldwide each year, says a study released by the University of Auckland.

Its researchers examined blood samples from pregnant women who have been pregnant for at least 20 weeks and pinpointed a set of 33 proteins recorded at abnormal levels. This may serve in tests as an indicator in the blood of pregnant women who are at risk of developing preeclampsia.

"The discovery of these biomarkers opens the way for development of a potential screening test for preeclampsia," says Professor Robyn North, head of the University of Auckland research team. There are no tests at present to determine if a first-time mother will suffer from the condition.

"If women at high risk of preeclampsia could be identified early in pregnancy, they could be offered intervention to prevent it and more intensive monitoring to enable earlier detection of the condition," says North. "Earlier detection would prevent some women developing severe complications such as seizures, liver impairment and kidney failure."

Preeclampsia is a condition caused by substances released by the placenta that can trigger blood circulation complications in a pregnant woman. The researchers also noted that there might be a link between preeclampsia and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The results of the study are a part of an international research project on pregnancy, the Screening of Pregnancy Endpoints (SCOPE) study, and will be published in the Proteomics academic journal.

SCOPE research collaborators also include Britain's universities of London, Leeds and Manchester, Australia's Adelaide University, the US University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Texas, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the Technical University of Munich in Germany.