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NIH grants $1.25 million to investigate diabetes drug for pre-eclampsia treatment

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH has granted $1.25 million to Sascha Drewlo, PhD, of Wayne State University to study how rosiglitazone could improve placental function to stop severe pre-eclampsia, according to a press release.

Pre-eclampsia, which results in the deaths of 76,000 women and 500,000 infants each year, is believed to be caused by the expression of glial cell missing-1 in the placenta (GCM-1). According to Drewlo, GCM-1 has been found to affect embryos by hindering blood vessel development. 

The grant will allow Drewlo to assess whether Avandia (rosiglitazone, SB Pharmco), an approved medication for the management of diabetes, will potentially stop the onset of severe pre-eclampsia. He believes that the drug will activate Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gammas, which could decrease the secretion of blood vessel growth inhibitors caused by GCM-1.

“We hypothesize that human trophoblast differentiation is regulated by the PPAR–[gamma]-GCM1 axis, which can be pharmacologically activated to improve placental and, in turn, maternal endothelial function. The ultimate goal of the proposed research program is to improve pregnancy outcome by restoring placental and maternal vascular function in severe pre-eclampsia,” Drewlo said in the release.