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A blood test to predict complications of pregnancy

Cell-free RNA transcripts in maternal blood can be analysed to monitor the progression of pregnancy and to predict a potentially harmful pregnancy-specific condition called pre‑eclampsia.
  1. Lydia L. Shook

    1. Lydia L. Shook is in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA, and in the Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital Research Institute, Boston.

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  2. Andrea G. Edlow

    1. Andrea G. Edlow is in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA, and in the Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital Research Institute, Boston.

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The biology of human pregnancy is challenging to study. Invasive diagnostic procedures can be used to obtain DNA from the placenta or fetus for genetic analyses, or to sample RNA for a snapshot of development at that moment in time. For ethical and practical reasons, however, it is not possible to repetitively sample the growing fetus and placenta to monitor development and pregnancy health across gestation. Writing in Nature, Rasmussen et al.1 collect and analyse RNA molecules circulating freely in the bloodstream — known as cell-free RNA (cfRNA) — from more than 1,800 pregnant individuals of various ages, body mass indices and races, from different continents and at different stages of their pregnancies. The analyses provide insight into normal fetal, placental and maternal changes in gene expression across gestation. The authors then use this knowledge of normal cfRNA signatures in pregnancy to predict the development of a potentially dangerous pregnancy complication called pre-eclampsia.

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Nature 601, 319-320 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03801-y

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Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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