Pre-eclampsia, a human disease of pregnancy, is the leading cause of maternal morbidity
in the western world. Despite the ubiquity of the disease and the plethora of studies
concerning its aetiology and pathogenesis no comprehensive theory concerning its aetiology
and pathogenesis have been put forward until now and so far there are no adequate
therapies other than bed rest and, if necessary, early delivery. We recently developed
an animal model for pre-eclampsia [
1
,
2
], whereby activation of the inflammatory response by low dose endotoxin resulted in
pregnant rats, and not in non-pregnant rats, in a pre-eclampsia-like syndrome. Analysis
of the inflammatory reaction induced by low dose endotoxin in pregnant — and non-pregnant
rats revealed that this reaction was much more persistent and intense in pregnant
rats as compared with non-pregnant rats; this is in line with the vast literature
showing that pregnant individuals are much more sensitive to endotoxin than non-pregnant
individuals [
3
,
4
,
5
]. Based on the animal model, we have thus put forward the hypothesis that also human
pre-eclampsia results from activation of the inflammatory system [
6
,
7
]. Here, we raise and try to answer, from a biological point of view, various questions
such as “why is pregnancy a pro-inflammatory condition?”, “what triggers the inflammatory
response leading to human pre-eclampsia?” and “why is pre-eclampsia so relatively
common in humans?”.Keywords
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© 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
