Why do we need this research?
Early-onset pre-eclampsia is diagnosed before 34 weeks and tends to be more serious than late-onset pre-eclampsia. It can be dangerous for both mother and baby and is a major cause of stillbirth – there is also a high chance of early-onset pre-eclampsia happening again in future pregnancies. As pre-eclampsia can only be cured completely by delivering the baby and the placenta, it is important to find out why early-onset pre-eclampsia can return in subsequent pregnancies. We could then use this information to develop new treatments that might be able to prevent pre-eclampsia in the future.
What’s happening in this project?
We don’t fully understand how pre-eclampsia develops, but we think it may be due to a problem with the placenta. Successful development of the placenta requires the embryo to correctly plant itself in the wall of the womb – a process known as implantation. After ovulation, the lining of the womb matures in preparation for implantation, with cells called ‘stromal cells’ believed to be important in this process. Our researchers think that abnormalities in stromal cells could lead to recurrent pre-eclampsia.
In this project, Tommy’s researchers are looking for differences between stromal cells taken from two groups of non-pregnant women: those who previously had early-onset pre-eclampsia and those considered low risk. In particular, the team are looking at how the stromal cells communicate with the immune cells that move into the lining of the womb during early pregnancy, as immune cells are known to help implantation. So far, they have shown that stromal cells from women with a history of early-onset pre-eclampsia release different proteins, which alter how they communicate with the immune system. They also observed differences in the way that the stromal cells taken from women with a history of early-onset pre-eclampsia grew in a lab, suggesting that the womb lining may not be able to mature effectively in these women.
What difference will this project make?
This project should tell us whether it is possible to detect problems with the lining of the womb before pregnancy occurs. If this is the case, doctors might be able to identify the women and birthing people who have a high chance of developing pre-eclampsia in a subsequent pregnancy. By increasing our understanding of the biological mechanisms that cause pre-eclampsia, we hope that this work will help us to find new treatments that could reduce the chances of women and birthing people experiencing pre-eclampsia time and time again.
