Prevention of Preeclampsia-associated preterm births

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific, hypertensive disorder that affects 5-8% of pregnancies. This disorder can lead to multi-organ failure, seizure, and maternal death. Preeclampsia is also responsible for as many as 20% of premature births in the United States. Although better neonatal care has improved the likelihood of preterm babies surviving, many face increased mortality and serious long-term morbidities. Medical experts agree that the best approach to prevent adverse preeclampsia-associated effects in babies is to delay premature birth. Unfortunately, current treatments are ineffective at delaying labor by more than a couple of days in the majority of preeclampsia patients. Although the cause of preeclampsia remains unclear, preeclampsia has been proposed to be a two-stage disease, which involves defects at the maternal-fetal interface as well as maternal vascular dysfunction. These defects could lead to systemic endothelial dysfunction. As a result, maternal-