Hellp and surrogacy.

[atvlady]

Was reading over my journal from my dr visits wiht my last pregnancy and found a peice in it about my OB telling me about a surrgate Mom. The couple that were the parents had pre-e and HELLP twice. The didn't want to take a chance of having it again so got a woman, not a family member, to be a surrogate Mom. The surrogate Mom got HELLP only and at a earlier gestational age. The surrogate had 2 children. Odd. Just thought I would share that.

[jean]

I was kind of wondering about surrogacy...I suppose if the placenta is where the problems come from, then it would make sense that regardless of who was carrying, there would be problems.

I heard of some ppl that were successful with surrogates too though, so I don't know?

[caryn]

Well, sometimes. :)

If the guy's genes don't work with *anyone*'s genetics -- this is the part of the human genome that is varying the most, changing the quickest under selection pressure, so a lot of guys have variant sets of instructions for implantation -- then a surrogate might also be at risk of HELLP.

If the guy's genes don't work with certain genetics, then it depends on the surrogate. One who can work with him won't have issues. One who cannot work with him will.

The really odd thing about this is that it's true even if you use one of your eggs. Your eggs would encode for half of the baby's genes -- so the baby would be entirely the product of you and your partner. But the part of the blastocyst that goes on to develop into the placenta is all paternal. The maternal genes are epigenetically silenced. Those paternal genes work with the genes in the uterine lining -- the decidua -- to form the placenta.

So the genetics of the surrogate also matter, because they will direct the development of the placenta while the genes carried in the egg direct the development of the fetus.

[atvlady]

Caryn...thanks for the explanation! I wondered about that when she told me but was trying to write as fast as I could. The not so important things I write down, like the above.

[caryn]

This disease is so freaking weird that I don't think anyone could write all of it down during a doc visit. After a few conferences it started to make more sense to me but I am far from an expert and rely heavily on email exchanges with people who would know. :)

I got most of that from a geneticist in Utah. :)

[jenprzygoda]

Caryn, thanks for the explanation - that makes total sense. Delissa, thanks for asking the question. My husband and I have tossed that idea around a bit and I never thought of that. Great point.