The University of Iowa has been working for years to find a cure for preeclampsia. That ongoing research has led the university to a spot in a four-center Strategically Focused Network on Hypertension created by the American Heart Association (AHA).

The AHA has awarded the UI Strategically Focused Hypertension Research Center a four-year, $3.7 million grant to participate in the network, which will delve into the causes and potential cures for high blood pressure. High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a leading risk factor for death worldwide and is responsible for nearly 7.5 million deaths, according to a 2009 report from the World Health Organization. It’s also a risk factor for heart disease.

Preeclampsia is a cardiovascular disorder generally occurring late in pregnancy that causes high blood pressure and protein in the urine. It often results in an early delivery, creating immediate and potentially lifelong risks to both mother and baby. Between 5 and 7 percent of all pregnancies in the United States are affected with preeclampsia, equating to roughly 4,000 pregnancies in Iowa or around 500,000 in the United States per year. More than 100,000 women worldwide die from the disease each year.

UI researchers have discovered a biomarker that may help predict whether a pregnant woman will develop preeclampsia as early as six weeks into the pregnancy.

The team, including Justin Grobe, assistant professor of pharmacology and a fellow of the AHA; Mark Santillan, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and a maternal fetal medicine specialist and a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Gary Pierce, assistant professor of Health of Human Physiology, and Curt Sigmund, professor and chair of pharmacology, and a fellow of the AHA, will use the new funding to develop a reliable, early predictor of preeclampsia to help doctors in areas with lower levels of obstetric care identify the highest-risk patients as early as the sixth week of pregnancy.

“Discoveries made in this Iowa Preeclampsia Network will provide novel opportunities for the prediction, prevention, and potential cure for this universally impactful and devastating disease which has been grossly understudied,” Santillan says.

Each of the four centers — the UI, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and Medical College of Wisconsin — have been identified as leaders in four areas of hypertension research. Researchers at UAB hope to change how high blood pressure is diagnosed and treated; Cincinnati Children’s is looking to improve how blood pressure is managed through lifestyle to limit the need for medication for children; and researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin will look at epigenetic changes throughout the human genome in people and animals with hypertension to identify new approaches for controlling high blood pressure.

Each research center includes a mix of basic, clinical, and population health research. While basic research carried out in a laboratory increases our understanding of fundamental life processes, clinical research involves people and looks for new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases. Population studies follow large groups of people over a long time to discover trends about diet, exercise and other factors that influence heart disease.

“The whole concept of this network is that we will be collaborating with the other three centers, so it is very likely that this will drive us to continue our focus not only on preeclampsia but on other areas of hypertension, which we are already doing,” says Sigmund, founding director of the UI Health Care Center for Hypertension Research, and director of the AHA Network Center at UI.

“Our participation in this network recognizes that we have been a leader in cardiovascular research for decades,” Sigmund adds, noting that the AHA grant is the first major external award given to the Center for Hypertension Research, which opened last year.