Blood biomarker accurately predicts preeclampsia

How do we know that we’re sick? Each time you go to the doctor’s office, your physician is looking for biomarkers to determine your health risks. Biomarkers are anything that can be measured from your body that predicts disease, such as cholesterol levels, temperature, or even specific genes. One biomarker type of growing interest is cell-free DNA. This genetic material – that is naturally shed into our bloodstream from our tissues – has already revolutionized the way we screen for genetic abnormalities during pregnancy, and is currently in the works for early cancer detection. And now, scientists have found a way to use cell-free DNA to tackle one of the most difficult-to-predict conditions facing pregnant patients: preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia is a serious condition affecting up to 8% of pregnancies. The high blood pressure and organ failure associated with the full condition can only be resolved through delivery of the baby, making it responsible for approximately 15% of premature births in the U.S. Though the disease is not completely understood, the dysfunction of the placenta is a known primary component. Using over 1,000 blood samples collected from patients categorized as either having developed preeclampsia or experiencing healthy pregnancies, scientists were able to identify that having less cell-free DNA traced from the placenta was predictive of preeclampsia with 80% accuracy. This new method can predict preeclampsia risk multiple months before an affected individual would experience symptoms, allowing their doctors to prevent dangerous outcomes.

Work such as this is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), whose mission is “to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.” Every day, talented scientists and physicians are working to find the next treatments and technologies to better human health, but we wouldn’t be where we are today without the support of the NIH.

This study was led by Mohamed Adil, a graduate student researcher at the University of Washington in the laboratories of Gavin Ha and Raj Shree.

Managing Correspondent: Morgan Glass

Press Article: New blood test accurately predicts preeclampsia, Science Daily

Original Research Article: Preeclampsia risk prediction from prenatal cell-free DNA screening, Nature Medicine

Image Credit: Portrait, Maki Nakamura, Getty Images