A new study reports that a single blood test can be used to rule out the development of pre-eclampsia in women in whom the syndrome is suspected. Early interventions for pre-eclampsia are not yet available, but this finding is likely to change the approach to diagnosis of hypertensive disorders in pregnancy.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Redman, C. W. & Sargent, I. L. Latest advances in understanding preeclampsia. Science 308, 1592–1594 (2005).
Zeisler, H. et al. Predictive value of the sFlt-1:PlGF ratio in women with suspected preeclampsia. N. Engl. J. Med. 374, 13–22 (2016).
Eremina, V. et al. VEGF inhibition and renal thrombotic microangiopathy. N. Engl. J. Med. 358, 1129–1136 (2008).
Eremina, V. et al. Glomerular-specific alterations of VEGF-A expression lead to distinct congenital and acquired renal diseases. J. Clin. Invest. 111, 707–716 (2003).
Lu, F. et al. The effect of over-expression of sFlt-1 on blood pressure and the occurrence of other manifestations of preeclampsia in unrestrained conscious pregnant mice. Am J. Obstet. Gynecol. 196, 396.e1–396.e7; discussion 396.e7 (2007).
Levine, R. J. et al. Circulating angiogenic factors and the risk of preeclampsia. N. Engl. J. Med. 350, 672–683 (2004).
McElrath, T. F. et al. Longitudinal evaluation of predictive value for preeclampsia of circulating angiogenic factors through pregnancy. Am J. Obstet. Gynecol. 207, 407.e1–407.e7 (2012).
Zhang, J., Klebanoff, M. A. & Roberts, J. M. Prediction of adverse outcomes by common definitions of hypertension in pregnancy. Obstet. Gynecol. 97, 261–267 (2001).
Thadhani, R. et al. Removal of soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 by dextran sulfate apheresis in preeclampsia. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1681/ASN.2015020157 (2015).
Thadhani, R. et al. Pilot study of extracorporeal removal of soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1 in preeclampsia. Circulation 124, 940–950 (2011).
Acknowledgements
T.B. is supported by the German Research Foundation (BE2212 and SFB829, SFB832, SFB635). He apologizes to those whose work could not be cited owing to space limitations.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
T.B. has received speaker honoraria from Hexal, Novartis, Kaneka and Otsuka.
PowerPoint slides
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Benzing, T. Testing for pre-eclampsia: paving the way to early diagnosis. Nat Rev Nephrol 12, 200–202 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2016.21
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2016.21