Blood test for expectant mums could prevent fatal complications when giving birth

A TYPE of protein which is found in the blood of pregnant women could help doctors predict potentially life-threatening birth complications, experts said today.

They hope the discovery could pave the way for a new blood test to help determine the health of an unborn baby, and guide doctors as to the safest time to deliver.

Tests in pregnant mice and a small sample of women found that low levels of the blood marker, known as DLK1, helped predict when babies were not growing properly.

Screening for DLK1 in the blood could offer a non-invasive way of diagnosing problems before a baby is born, scientists at Queen Mary University in London said.

Lead researcher, Dr Marika Charalambous, said: “At the moment there are few ways of predicting which pregnancies will go wrong and which small babies are small because they are not getting enough nutrition while in the womb and which are small simply because of their genes.

“It’s incredibly important to start developing tests that can give an obstetrician much more information on the pregnancy before delivery, so that they can intervene before complications come to crisis point.

“Measuring DLK1 levels in the mother’s blood could be a reliable and non-invasive way of predicting whether there are likely to be complications, especially those that cause reduced nutrient supply to the baby.

“In those instances, you really need to get the baby out quickly, so women could opt to have an early elective delivery.”

DLK1 is a protein that is found in high levels in the mother’s blood during pregnancy, in both humans and rodents.

But little has been known about its source, what it does, and whether it can indicate anything about the health of a foetus.

The study, published in the journal Nature Genetics, initially used mice experiments that involved knocking out the gene in either the foetus or the mother, and then measuring the mother’s DLK1 level to determine its source.

Scientists hope their findings could pave the way for a new blood test – screening for DLK1 – to help predict when an unborn baby may need to be delivered early

The researchers found that the protein originates from the embryo, meaning that its levels in maternal blood could provide a direct read-out of the embryo’s biological state.

The team then looked at how DLK1 affects a pregnant mouse’s metabolism.

When fasting for 24 hours, humans start a process known as ‘ketosis’ and involves burning the energy from fat stores to keep the body functioning.

When DLK1 was inactivated in pregnant mice, their fasting response was impaired by not being able to begin ketosis.

The researchers said this indicated the importance of DLK1 in providing energy for the foetus and their growth, and DLK1 levels in the mother were found to be a good predictor of the mass of their off spring.

They then studied 129 first time mothers, taking measurements if DLK1 levels in their blood and recording the outcomes of their pregnancies.

They found that low DLK1 levels were associated with reduced growth of the foetus resulting from pregnancy complications, including poor blood flow through the umbilical chord.

The researchers said that further clinical studies in humans will be required to fully determine DLK1’s potential as a pre-natal diagnostic tool.

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