Blood test suggests preeclampsia risk using RNA
A blood test can accurately determine whether someone without known risk factors for preeclampsia may be at risk of developing the potentially fatal hypertensive pregnancy condition
By Joanna Thompson
8 April 2025
Preeclampsia is a potentially serious complication of pregnancy
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Preeclampsia can lead to many pregnancy complications including death, but it can be hard to detect early in gestation. A new blood test could help doctors identify those at risk of developing the condition months before symptoms start.
“We can narrow it down to about 1 in 4 pregnancies that are truly at high risk, and that’s a big step,” says Maneesh Jain at Mirvie, a California-based health start-up.
Preeclampsia is a type of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (HDP) that occurs when something – scientists aren’t sure precisely what – goes awry during the placenta’s development. This leads to high blood pressure, which can cause cardiovascular disease, organ damage, seizures and even death. It can also harm the developing fetus.
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Catching preeclampsia and other HDPs can be difficult, however, because symptoms usually don’t show up until at least 20 weeks into pregnancy. Sometimes, the signs go undetected until labour. And monitoring placental development is tough because taking a tissue sample from the organ is extremely invasive.
The new blood test is relatively non-invasive, and uses RNA markers to predict whether someone is likely to develop an HDP. Specifically, the test focuses on certain genes, including PAPPA2 and CD163, the overexpression of which has previously been linked to HDPs. The researchers wanted to see whether they could detect this overexpression in blood samples.
