Pre-eclampsia may stem from misfolded proteins in urine

Washington, Jan 31 (ANI): Scientists at Yale School of Medicine have found that the key to pre-eclampsia could be found in proteins that misfold and aggregate in the urine.

Preeclampsia is a common, but serious hypertension complication of pregnancy that has puzzled doctors and researchers for decades. It is also a leading cause of preterm delivery.

Delivery is the only reliable treatment for preeclampsia, and establishing a correct diagnosis can be difficult, especially in women with preexisting hypertension, lupus or kidney disease.

Researchers claimed that these misshapen proteins can be easily detected in the urine, affording a new approach to early diagnosis of the disease.

"These results support the hypothesis that preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific protein misfolding disease. Our urine dye test is a rapid and non-invasive test that can be used to definitively diagnose preeclampsia," said lead author on the abstract, Irina Buhimschi, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.

In their study, conducted on 111 pregnant women, researchers used proteomics to identify key abnormal proteins in the urine weeks before preeclampsia becomes clinically apparent.

In order to carry out their individual functions properly, proteins must fold themselves correctly into three-dimensional structures. Misfolding, or failure to fold into the intended shape, produces proteins with different properties that are mainly guided by their shape rather than their amino acid sequence. Proteins of different amino acid sequences may share common shapes when misfolded.

The scientists designed a test based on a dye that sticks to misfolded proteins and analyzed the urine of women in the study starting in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Buhimschi was able to use this simple test to identify a study participant who went on to develop severe preeclampsia and required early delivery.

Further work in Buhimschi's lab, using conformation-specific antibodies showed that misfolded shapes similar to those found in Alzheimer's disease are also present in the urine of preeclamptic women.

On the other hand, the misfolded aggregates identified in preeclampsia are composed of a group of different proteins, including SERPIN-A1 (also known as alpha-1-antitrypsin).

Buhimschi said: "This novel identification of preeclampsia as a disorder of protein misfolding opens a door for researchers that may lead to testing of new drugs or developing new therapies. Our future work will seek to determine whether the different shapes employed by the misfolded proteins in preeclampsia are linked to specific clinical symptoms and the different ways this intriguing disease manifests."

The study was presented at the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine scientific meetings in San Diego, Calif. (ANI)