The Role and Regulation of Phospholipase Isozymes in the Initiation of Human Labour

Funded Activity Summary

Being born too early is the most significant problem facing contemporary clinical obstetrics in the developed world. Preterm birth is the major cause of ill-health and death in newborns, accounting for 85% of all early infant deaths, not secondary to genetic abnormality. In Australia in 1998, more than 17,000 babies were born too early, of these over 10,000 suffered respiratory complications and 1300 died during the first 21 days of life. Even though the likelihood of a premature baby surviving doubles for every two weeks that birth is delayed (between 23 and 28 weeks of gestation), currently there is no treatment available that reliably delays or prevents premature birth. In order to develop clinically useful treatments and improve pregnancy outcome and the well-being of our newborn, it is essential to understand the mechanisms that start the process of labour and delivery. Thus, the overall aim of this project is to increase our understanding of how human labour is initiated and to identify processes that may be manipulated to delay premature birth. In particular, this project focuses on the role and regulation, of what we believe is, a central and common pathway involved in triggering the birth process. This pathway is a known regulator of inflammatory process in the body. Intriguingly, the process of birth displays many of the hallmarks of an inflammatory reaction. Our pilot studies suggest that this pathway is involved in activation many of the events that occur at the time of birth and that further investigation of its role will provide valuable insights in to what triggers human birth. The specific aims of this project are (i) to develop a better understanding of the mechanisms that initiate human labour and (ii) to identify more effectively ways of prevent preterm birth.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2000

End Date: 01-01-2004

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $462,589.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Obstetrics And Gynaecology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

human labour and delivery | phospholipases | phospholipids | pregnancy | pregnancy and labour | preterm birth | prostaglandins | transcription factors

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