Patent ID: 8518716

Claim:
A method for diagnosing preeclampsia or eclampsia in a pregnant subject, or for distinguishing preeclampsia or eclampsia from gestational hypertension in a pregnant subject, the method comprising: (a) quantitating soluble c-kit in a sample obtained from the pregnant subject, wherein the sample is a blood, plasma or serum sample; (b) quantitating soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 or free placental growth factor in the sample; (c) detecting a statistically significant decrease in the concentration of soluble c-kit in the sample as compared to a control, wherein the control is a level of soluble c-kit in a sample from a gestationally matched pregnant subject that does not have eclampsia or pre-eclampsia; and (d) detecting a statically significant elevation in soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase-1, a statistically significant reduction in free placental growth factor, or both, in the sample as compared to a control, wherein the control is a level of fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 or free placental growth factor respectively, from a gestationally matched pregnant subject that does not have eclampsia or pre-eclampsia, wherein the combined detection in step (c) and step (d) indicates that the pregnant subject has preeclampsia or eclampsia, or indicates that the pregnant subject has preeclampsia or eclampsia and does not have gestational hypertension.