Increased level of the protein HtrA1 is found in women who develop preeclampsia
Professor Brian Brost and Colleagues from Mayo Clinic have found that a sudden increase in HtrA1 protein levels in the blood of pregnant women may indicate that they may be affected by preeclampsia. Preeclampsia is responsible for causing premature infants and also linked with death or disability for mother and fetus.
This new protein marker may be helpful in detecting early preeclampsia and the researchers have plans of testing the values of this blood marker in all pregnant women which may help in early diagnosis of preeclampsia. Researchers are not sure about how this protein HtrA1 is responsible for affecting the fetus and how is this increased level of the protein causes adverse action on the mother and fetus.
