The finding of a consistent discriminatory metabolite signature in early pregnancy plasma preceding the onset of preeclampsia offers insight into disease pathogenesis and offers the tantalizing promise of a robust presymptomatic screening test.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20837882

So looking at this particular panel of factors let them identify, at 15 weeks gestation, a population of women who were given more than 20 times the normal risk of developing preeclampsia. But, as the LA Times article points out, it wasn't very specific, because many women who did not go on to develop preeclampsia would have been managed as if they were likely to do so. The good thing about this is that it's better to be managed as high-risk, and then to not get sick, than it is to be managed as low-risk, and then get sick. (The bad thing is that it's no fun to be managed as high-risk and then not get sick, of course.)

This test isn't available anywhere -- and won't be for years, if then -- but it's a very interesting proof of concept, because it picked up on the fact that metabolic factors were busted as all * by 15 weeks gestation. That confirms a bunch of the underlying theory, particularly the bits about how PE stems from very early pregnancy factors, is a secondary strategy allowing the placenta to manipulate bloodflow when deep implantation fails, involves a metabolic hijack of the mother, etc.

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The LA Times did a decent job covering the story, as well, and nice to see that they link to us in the lead. Overall, it's a bit more wholistic view of the prediction/screening market that has been so hot in the last several years.
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-preeclampsia-test-20100914,0,6937779.story

And here's the article in the Globe and Mail. I'm not sure where the $45B stat came from, but overall really nice to see this publication cover PE. Huge thanks to two of our Canadian members who contributed to this article - thanks Elaine! -- and attended the press conference on our behalf -- thanks Cheryl !

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/u-of-a-study-offers-hope-against-fatal-disease-striking-pregnant-women/article1705944/

Here are a couple of short articles about it. Ill look for the journal article in "Hypertension".

Specific Metabolites Linked To Increased Likelihood Of Preeclampsia.
Canada's Edmonton Sun (9/14) reports that preeclampsia is the "leading cause of pregnancy-related death and is responsible for 20% of all neonatal hospital admissions." In fact, it "claims the lives of 75,000 expectant mothers a year in the developing world." Now, after some 15 years of collaborative research, scientists in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the UK now say they "have come up with a way to predict which expectant mothers are predisposed to developing preeclampsia." According to the paper in Hypertension, they identified "a combination of 14 sugar, fats, and amino acids that appeared in pregnant women who later developed preeclampsia," a discovery that senior investigator Dr. Louise C. Kenny, of Cork University, calls the "Obstetrics' Holy Grail."
Specifically, 60 women, the majority of whom were from New Zealand, were "found to have the 14 telltale metabolic biomarkers in the blood samples taken in early pregnancy," HealthDay (9/13) reported. "The team then tested their metabolite diagnostic method among another group of women in Australia, who were slightly younger and more ethnically diverse. Women who developed preeclampsia were also matched with a control group of 40 women with healthy pregnancies," and "of the women who developed preeclampsia, 39 were found to have had the same 14 metabolites."

This was in our local paper:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Researchers+find+fingerprint+deadly+pregnancy+condition/3519446/story.html