Breakthrough on preeclampsia cure

(Image: Pixabay CC0) - Researchers have made groundbreaking progress towards identifying the root cause and potential therapy for preeclampsia. The pregnancy complication affects up to eight per cent of pregnancies globally and is the leading cause of maternal and fetal mortality due to premature delivery, complications with the placenta and lack of oxygen. The research, led by Drs. Kun Ping Lu and Xiao Zhen Zhou at Western, and Drs. Surendra Sharma and Sukanta Jash at Brown, has identified a toxic protein, P-tau, in the blood and placenta of preeclampsia patients. According to the study published in Nature Communications , P-tau is a central circulating driver of preeclampsia - a "troublemaker" that plays a major role in causing the deadly complication. "The root cause of preeclampsia has (so far) remained unknown, and without a known cause there has been no cure.