Grant: Project Grant

Preeclampsia remains a leading cause of maternal and neonatal mortality/morbidity. More than 3 to 8% of all pregnancies are affected by this syndrome in Canada. Preeclampsia is characterized by hypertension after 20 weeks of pregnancy. There are still no universally approved diagnostic tests or truly effective treatments, besides aspirin and premature delivery, and its deleterious consequences on newborns. The project will use the clinical data and the samples from already biobanked cohorts. Moreover, isolated blood vessels and animal models will help to decipher the role of poorly characterized lipid mediators. Most of the work proposed in this proposal is about finding biomarkers to diagnose and predict this syndrome early in pregnancy for a better follow-up. This work is focused on the use of metabolomics/lipidomics as novel markers that combine the effects of genes and the maternal environment. This project will fill critical gaps of knowledge about the potential failure of the control of inflammation in preeclampsia as a novel mechanism to explain the pathophysiology of preeclampsia. These findings could lead to new innovative treatments using antioxidants, G-protein receptor agonists/antagonists, or anti-inflammatory drugs.