Pregnancy is one of the most important events in a woman’s life, with long lasting physiological and psychological impact. Apart from personal significance, the global societal influence of pregnancy is virtually incomparable to any other individual phenomenon. Despite a remarkable progress in maintaining both maternal and fetal health during last decades, improving pregnancy outcomes is still a major priority, as recommended by the World Health Organization. Although most pregnancies will pass without any complications, it is estimated that 15% of pregnant women develop a life-threatening complication at some point during pregnancy. Notably, high-risk pregnancies are a huge financial burden to any healthcare system.

Most pregnancy-related medical conditions appear to resolve at delivery or shortly after, but there is a growing evidence that history of pregnancy complications is associated with increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, in later life of both mother and child. Therefore, pregnancy is a unique time in life with a capacity to influence both maternal and offspring health. Yet, etiology and pathogenesis of pregnancy complications are not completely understood, so there is a need for reliable biomarkers, as well as for adequate prevention strategies and therapy of pregnancy complications.

HI-MOM project accentuates the role of lipid homeostasis during pregnancy. The project will explore lipidomic, proteomic and genomic aspects of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles during high-risk and uncomplicated pregnancy. This comprehensive approach will enable detection of HDL-related biomarkers which undergo the most prominent changes during pregnancy and thereby hopefully improve a prediction of pregnancy complications. By assessing various aspects of HDL structural and functional changes from the first trimester to the delivery, HI-MOM seeks to improve early recognition and control of short-term and long-term pregnancy outcomes.

This research was supported by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia, #GRANT No 7741659, HIgh-density lipoprotein MetabolOMe research to improve pregnancy outcome-HI-MOM