A Novel, Simple Method to Find Inexpensive Drugs for Preeclampsia Treatment

Preeclampsia (PE) is a disease without targeted treatments. We propose a simple strategy to solve this problem: we will establish a cell-based assay to screen clinically-available, mostly generic and inexpensive, drugs that may have a therapeutic effect on PE. To do this, we will utilize new scientific knowledge, showing that anti-angiogenic factors released from the placenta trigger maternal vascular injury essential for the development of PE. The drugs to be screened are chosen as relatively safe to pregnant women based on FDA labels; most of them are already on pharmacy shelves in developing countries, being used for diseases other than PE. Since they have not previously been tested for efficacy in PE, it is very likely that some may have beneficial effects.