Preeclampsia is characterized by the elevated blood pressure of the mother, and the baby is often delivered preterm and smaller than usual.
Although preeclampsia is cured by the delivery of the placenta, the mechanism of the disease has still remained unclear.
“It is necessary for a successful pregnancy that the mother’s immune system does not react too strongly and reject the fetus, even though half of its genes are from the father and thus foreign,” says professor Juha Kere from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Kere coordinated the research to uncover the role of the HLA-G gene in preeclampsia. This gene protects the placenta against mother’s immune attack.
