According to Business Week, a new research study found that women who develop preeclampsia might have an overabundance of a gene that helps regulate the body’s immune system. The study’s findings hope to improve screening and prenatal care of patients at risk and their unborn.
The North Carolina State University researchers focused on preeclampsia as an autoimmune disorder, where the mother’s body regards the placenta as an unknown invader. The researchers compared genetic analyses of placenta from women with preeclampsia to women with normal pregnancies.
The study found placentas from preeclampsia patients had genes associated with a particular autoimmune pathway, and there was more genes present than in women with normal placentas. A particular enzyme involved in sialic acid modification was upregulated, meaning there was more of it present, which causes disruption in the body’s ability to identify invaders from non-invaders. Such a regulation disruption results in the body attacking itself.
The researchers hope their findings help pregnant women with preeclampsia and their babies, as medical experts might have a better idea of where the autoimmune effects is originating from. Preeclampsia is a serious condition where a pregnant woman’s blood pressure suddenly rises, posing a risk of stroke, seizure or organ failure in the mother. Preeclampsia occurs in 10 percent of pregnancies and causes about 15 percent of preterm births.