The researchers from US and Finland have discovered a gene which is associated with premature births. It is believed that the study could eventually escort to a test for women those who are at risk of pre-term birth. One in ten babies is born prior to thirty-seven weeks of pregnancy in UK.
These babies have possible problems relating to their health. The team of researchers from Vanderbilt University, Washington University and the University of Helsinki examined human evolution to seek out genes associated with premature births. While comparing mammals and other primates, they found humans have comparatively bigger heads and narrow birth canals.
They believed that there must have been an evolutionary stress to acclimatize and alter the time of birth to deliver a smaller baby. They search for DNA that showed evidence of accelerated evolution genes which have mutated more in humans in comparison to other primates. They identified more than one hundred and fifty genes.
The next stride was to seek an association with premature births. Therefore the team compared those genes in more than three hundred Finnish mothers, some of whom had premature births. They found a strong connection of premature birth with variations in the FSHR- follicle stimulating hormone receptor gene.
Follicle stimulating hormone works on receptors in the ovaries to stimulate follicle development and production of the hormone oestrogen. The risks for babies who born prematurely are such as respiratory distress syndrome, hypothermia, low blood glucose, jaundice, retinopathy of prematurity, necritising enterocolitis, infection and death. Follicle is a sphere of cells containing an egg.
Idyllically they would like to envisage which women are at greatest risk for having pre-term birth and be able to prevent it. That would really have an impact on infant mortality and the long-term complications of being born prematurely, explained Prof Louis Muglia from the department of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University.
According to Prof Ronald Lamont, spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the risk of premature birth was prone to be a blend of genetic and environmental aspects. In the future they will be able to recognize a percentage of people at risk. The study was published in PLOS Genetics.