• Kidney donation and chronic kidney disease are associated with an increased risk of pre-eclampsia. A recent study in pregnant uninephrectomized mice provides new insights into the mechanisms that underlie these associations and potential therapeutic strategies.
• The authors presented a mechanistic basis for how impaired renal reserve and the resulting failure to upregulate l-kynurenine during pregnancy can lead to impaired placentation, placental hypoperfusion, an antiangiogenic state, and subsequent pre-eclampsia.

Reference: Piccoli, Giorgina Barbara, and Oralia Alejandra Orozco-Guillén. "The pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia in kidney donors." Nature reviews. Nephrology, 10.1038/s41581-022-00646-0. October 27, 2022