Angiogenic Biomarkers as Predictive Tests for Early Onset Preeclampsia: A Population-Based Study

子痫前期是妊娠最常见的严重并发症。它是由胎盘缺陷引起的，在早期没有症状。目前只能通过定期产前检查母亲的血压和尿液来检测。在其最广泛的形式中，先兆子痫影响了大约十分之一的怀孕，严重影响了五十分之一的怀孕。如果听任其发展和进展而不被发现，它可能危及母亲和婴儿的生命。先兆子痫只能通过分娩来治愈，如果早产，会使一些婴儿处于危险之中。最近，科学家们发现血液中的化学物质似乎与子痫前期的发病有关。然而，目前尚不清楚这些生物标志物的准确性如何。不能预测子痫前期，也不能在妊娠早期发现这种关联。如果这些生物标记物能够提供孕妇极有可能出现症状的警告，那么就可以及早进行预防性治疗。此外，如果能够确定根本没有危险的妇女，那么她们就不必反复去医院验血和尿检。为了确定这些生物标记物的准确性，从三个欧洲国家的孕妇身上采集的血液和尿液样本将被带到伯明翰进行测试。这些样本是在怀孕期间的三个不同时间点捐献的，以便研究人员确定什么时候进行检测的最佳时间。样本的结果将与血压等临床信息匿名联系起来，以观察生物标志物是否出现在患有先兆子痫的妇女身上。对这些检测结果和临床信息的统计分析将为医生和助产士提供有关先兆子痫风险的信息，如果这些生物标志物检测结果呈阳性或阴性。

Preeclampsia is the most common of the serious complications of pregnancy. It is caused by a defect in the placenta and is symptomless in the early stages. It is currently only detectable by regular antenatal checks on the mother s blood pressure and urine. In its widest forms, preeclampsia affects about 1 in 10 pregnancies overall and 1 in 50 pregnancies severely. It is potentially life-threatening to mother and baby if allowed to develop and progress undetected. Preeclampsia is curable only by delivery, which puts some babies at risk if they have to be delivered prematurely. Recently, scientists have identified chemicals in the blood that appear to be associated with the onset of preeclampsia. However, it is not known how accurate these ?biomarkers? are at predicting preeclampsia, nor how early in the pregnancy the association can be detected. If the biomarkers could provide a warning that a pregnant woman was highly likely to develop symptoms, then preventative treatment could be given early. Furthermore, if women not at all at risk could be identified, then they could be spared repeated visits to the hospital for blood and urine tests. To determine the accuracy of these biomarkers, samples of blood and urine collected from pregnant women from three European countries will be brought to Birmingham for testing. These samples have been donated at three different time points in the pregnancy, to allow the investigators to determine when the best time to test is. The results from the samples will be anonymously linked to clinical information such as blood pressure to see if the biomarkers appear in women who develop preeclampsia. Statistical analysis of the tests and clinical information will provide doctors and midwives with information about the risk of preeclampsia if a women tests positive or negative for these biomarkers.