United States: It is recognized that the same platform that has been used for COVID vaccines might offer defense for a pregnant woman and her unborn child against a life-threatening condition of pregnancy.
Breakthrough in Pregnancy Care
According to researchers, a new kind of mice published on Dec. 11 in the Nature Journal reveals that injections based on that vaccine platform decrease the risk of preeclampsia among lab mice, as reported by HealthDay.
Preeclampsia is a pregnancy condition characterized by high blood pressure that is persistent and that manifests either during pregnancy or postpartum. It can cause danger to the life of both the mother and her baby or even cause the mom to have organ failure.
The experimental injection “was able to deliver an mRNA therapeutic that reduced maternal blood pressure through the end of gestation and improved fetal health and blood circulation in the placenta,” said researcher Kelsey Swingle, a doctoral student in bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science. “Additionally, at birth, we saw an increase in litter weight of the pups, which indicates a healthy mom and healthy babies.”
Experimental mRNA Injection Shows Promise
The occurrence of preeclampsia is between 3% and 5% for all pregnancies, noted the researchers in an online update. There are no actual remedies for this; then again, women must take blood pressure reducing drugs or rest in bed.
Preeclampsia results from inadequate blood supply to the placenta, leading to a mom’s blood pressure increase with restricted blood supply to the developing fetus.
Scientists assumed that developing a drug that can enter the placenta when pathological changes significantly hinder blood flow may help with the condition.
Potential for Broader Applications
To create that drug, scientists coopted the particles from mRNA COVID vaccines to deliver cancer.
The vaccine itself is formed through a molecule called mRNA, which produces an immune response to COVID and is enclosed in small balls made of fat called lipid nanoparticles (LNP). Such particles melt within the human body and then discharge the load they are carrying.
Swingle analyzed 98 different lipid nanoparticles and their suitability for crossing the placenta of pregnant mice.
Swingle ultimately developed a particle that offered a 100-fold higher ability to deliver mRNA to the placenta than an FDA-approved lipid nanoparticle.
The outcomes proved that the one-time injection endowed mice with preeclampsia a cure to the condition until the end of pregnancy.
Advancing to Larger Animal Trials
“At this stage in our research, we would bring this LNP to larger animals, such as rats and guinea pigs first, to determine how well it works in the ‘gold standard’ models of preeclampsia before we could advance this work to human trials,” Swingle said in a university news release.
“Testing our LNP on guinea pigs will be particularly interesting, as their placenta closely resembles a human’s, and their gestational period is longer, up to 72 days,” Swingle added. “We will be asking the questions, ‘How many doses do these animals need?’ ‘Will the minimum effective dose change?’ and ‘How well does our current LNP work in each?’”
According to Swingle, this study also demonstrates the possibility of employing lipid nanoparticles to provide treatments for more illnesses and conditions, as reported by HealthDay.