Genetic clue to pre-eclampsia revealed

SCIENTISTS have uncovered genetic defects which appear to increase the risk of pre-eclampsia, a potentially fatal complication in pregnant women.

The researchers found that some women who suffered the condition carried specific genetic changes which predisposed them to develop the problem.

It is now hoped that the findings, from America, will lead to new targets for treating pre-eclampsia, which affects as many as one in ten pregnancies in Scotland. The results should also help lead to tests which could identify women at greatest risk of the condition, allowing them to be closely monitored during their pregnancy.

The latest research, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, studied the DNA of 250 pregnant women with auto-immune conditions such as lupus, 40 of whom had experience of pre-eclampsia.

They then went on to study 59 women without auto-immune disease who also suffered pre-eclampsia.

Genetic mutations were found in a number of women in both groups which appear to increase their risk.