Pregnancy complications
Placental extracellular vesicles in gestational diabetes, preeclampsia and preterm birth
The placenta releases extracellular vesicles (EVs) into the mother’s blood throughout pregnancy. Their number and cargo change with placental health, so they offer a window into the placenta that a standard blood test cannot.
Our work in this area covers:
- Screening. A rapid, high-sensitivity assay that profiles circulating placental EVs to screen for pregnancy complications (Palma et al., 2025).
- Gestational diabetes. How EVs from adipose tissue and the placenta regulate glucose metabolism and fetal growth (Jayabalan et al., 2025; Jayabalan et al., 2019; James‐Allan et al., 2020).
- Preeclampsia. Hypoxia-induced EV proteins that regulate inflammation and blood pressure (Dutta et al., 2020).
- Preterm birth. Longitudinal changes in circulating EV proteins and miRNAs across term and preterm pregnancies (Menon et al., 2019; Menon et al., 2020).
