Model animal for pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome, and treatment method therefor

Abstract

A lentiviral vector was used to produce non-human animals that express human sFLT1 specifically in the murine placenta, to provide model animals of diseases such as pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome that are close to the clinical conditions, methods for producing the model animals, methods of screening for candidate compounds as therapeutic agents for diseases such as pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome by using the model animals, and therapeutic agents for diseases such as pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome. As a result, the model animals were found to exhibit symptoms that are very close to the clinical conditions in human, which are presentation of hypertension as well as placental insufficiency, intrauterine growth retardation, glomerulosclerosis, and proteinuria during pregnancy, and improvement of those symptoms postpartum. Furthermore, when pravastatin was administered to this model animal, it was found that diseases such as pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome were improved by the activation of placenta-derived growth factor (PIGF) which antagonizes sFLT1.