A new discovery in Israel of a placental protein 13 (pp13) is thought to be the first bio marker and will be able to test for the possibility of pre eclampsia in pregnant women.
Developed at Diagnostic Technologies PP13 is to undergo more thorough testing in Austria although it is already available, at a price, to women in Israel.
The condition of pre eclampsia can result in premature deliveries and is signaled by high blood pressure, it can affect the brain, blood system, liver and kidneys.
The disease has been around for centuries, but has continued to baffle scientists. Pre eclampsia leads to almost twenty percent of deaths during pregnancy and affects up to seven percent of all pregnancies.
A leading expert in this field, Prof. Berthold Huppertz states that if a person’s mother suffered with pre eclampsia they are at greater risk from heart disease in the future.
The German born cell biologist theorizes that the placenta is damaged by a lack of oxygen. This is caused by the invasion of the uterus by cells unable to make open tubes from arteries.
Huppertz continues that a change of sexual partner with resulting in a pregnancy increases the risk whilst an immune system acclimatized to a particular sperm has a reduced chance of getting the condition. He is keen to work with the team in Austria to test the new discovery.
It is the University of Graz’s Institute of Cell Biology, History and Embryology that will take over where the Israeli scientists left off. Preeclampsia is also generic and is most common in the black population yet least known in Asian ethnicity.
