Scientists have discovered genetic defects that appear to predispose women to a common pregnancy-related medical problem called preeclampsia that can threaten the life of both baby and mother. Lead investigator Dr. Jane Salmon, a rheumatologist and senior scientist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, and colleagues uncovered genetic mutations in women with certain autoimmune diseases associated with increased risk of preeclampsia, as well as in patients with preeclampsia who did not have an autoimmune disease. Their findings appear in an article published online on March 22, 2011, in PLoS Medicine. Preeclampsia affects up to 10 percent of pregnancies in the United States. The condition claims the lives of more than 60,000 women each year in developing countries. It is diagnosed by the onset of high blood pressure and appearance of protein in the urine. Because the cause of preeclampsia is unknown, there are no reliable means to predict its occurrence and no satisfactory prevention or treatment. When preeclampsia becomes life-threatening, the only option is to deliver the baby pre-term. In the study, Dr. Salmon and colleagues focused on women with systemic lupus erythematosus and/or antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, which are autoimmune diseases. The women are participants in a multi-center research initiative led by Dr. Salmon known as PROMISSE (Predictors of pRegnancy Outcome: bioMarkers In antiphospholipid antibody Syndrome and Systemic lupus Erythematosus) and funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2003 to identify biomarkers that predict poor pregnancy outcomes in women with lupus and/or antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. Dr. Salmon is also co-director of the Mary Kirkland Center for Lupus Research at the Hospital for Special Surgery.Login Or Register To Read Full Story