Type

Range

Units

Status

Start Date

End Date

Brief description/objective

Preeclampsia is a severe pregnancy associated disease. An antiangiogenic environment is created by an excessive production of sFlt-1. The only current therapeutic option is delivery of the child and placenta. First experimental evidence for the therapeutic benefit of sFlt-1 removal has been achieved using dextran sulfate apheresis. Here, we seek to conduct a feasibility study investigating the potential of magnetic separation-based removal of sFlt-1 from blood by an extracorporeal blood purification process with much higher selectivity. Blood samples from healthy volunteers will be spiked with recombinant sFlt-1 protein. The magnetic beads functionalized with sFlt-1 targeting moieties will be applied to the blood samples and, after certain time, removed by applying magnetic gradient field. The serum concentration of the remaining sFlt-1 and other essential blood constituents will be determined. Following the optimization of bead functionalization and contact time; the magnetic blood purification will be scaled up and carried out in continuous mode using an extracorporeal blood purification circuit.