Haase, N. et al. J. Clin. Invest. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI99417 (2020)

Preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication characterized by new-onset maternal hypertension and proteinuria, is associated with multiple adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. The pathophysiology of preeclampsia remains unclear, but potential contributing factors have been identified, including alterations in the renin-angiotensin system (RAS).

A new study further confirms the role of RAS in preeclampsia by showing that a reduction of maternal hepatic angiotensinogen (AGT), a RAS component, using RNA interference (RNAi) ameliorated the preeclamptic phenotype, reduced blood pressure and improved intrauterine growth restriction in two rodent models of preeclampsia.

Agt RNAi treatment also had no deleterious effects on the fetus. Further investigation is needed to evaluate the clinical potential of this therapy in patients with preeclampsia.