Renal Division and Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and Department of Pathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

Correspondence: S. Ananth Karumanchi M.D., Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Renal Division, 330 Brookline Avenue, Dana 517, Boston, MA 02215. E-mail:sananth@bidmc.harvard.edu

Received 9 February 2004; Revised 23 April 2004; Re-revised 23 November 2004; Accepted 12 January 2005.

Abstract

Preeclampsia: A renal perspective. Preeclampsia is a syndrome that affects 5% of all pregnancies, producing substantial maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The aim of this review is to summarize our current understanding of the pathogenesis of preeclampsia with special emphasis on the recent discovery that circulating anti-angiogenic proteins of placental origin may play an important role in the pathogenesis of proteinuria and hypertension of preeclampsia.