12/14/2023
Unbelievable breakthrough in the world of birth- a very likely cause for extreme nausea and vomiting diagnosis of HG!
❗️BREAKING NEWS❗️
A new study published in Nature reveals abnormally high levels of the hormone, GDF15, and increased sensitivity to it, are the major factors contributing to HG.
Dr. Marlena Fejzo, Hyperemesis Education and Research (HER) Foundation Research Advisor and Board Member, and her team previously identified three independent genetic variants in GDF15, all of which strongly increase the risk of developing HG. GDF15 is known to cause nausea, vomiting, and appetite and taste changes.
The new study, first-authored by HER Foundation’s Dr. Fejzo and co-authored by HER’s Executive Director Kimber MacGibbon, was led by Dr. Stephen O’Rahilly at the University of Cambridge and includes an international team of researchers.
The work suggests that, in the future, HG may be prevented by raising GDF15 levels prior to pregnancy using a priming strategy. The study also provides the first suggestive evidence that an interaction between maternal and fetal genes plays a role in recurrence risk. However, larger studies are needed to confirm this.
Dr. Marlena Fejzo lost her baby due to the pregnancy complication, hyperemesis gravidarum, in 1999 and has been researching the cause ever since. “While I have worked, people have continued to contact the HER Foundation with heartbreaking stories like my own, begging for answers. I think we finally have the solution.”
Read more: hyperemesis.org/news/nature2023
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06921-9
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