"We're going to be studying mothers at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the increase in knowledge that this will give us could help in developing new treatments that will save lives.
"This is a unique project that brings together immunology and obstetrics; in normal labour, white blood cells are activated in the bloodstream and migrate to the womb during the birthing process.
"Sometimes this can happen too soon and we believe that these cells might play a key role in triggering preterm labour. If this is the case then progesterone could stop this from happening by blocking the activation of white blood cells."
Professor Jane Norman, University of Glasgow
Research News
"Progesterone could save babies"
February 2006
Action Medical Research has announced details of a new study that could see progesterone being used to stop babies from being born too soon.
The £94,000 Glasgow based project is looking to understand how the hormone could cut the risk of preterm labour.
The team hopes that the results will ultimately find ways to stop some babies from being born prematurely.
The hidden epidemic
Around 50,000 babies are born too early every year in the UK and, as a result, are at risk of a lifetime of health problems such as blindness, deafness and cerebral palsy as well as sometimes needing distressing and invasive treatment at birth.
Some premature babies have to spend weeks or even months in special care, which can be devastating for their families - even when the outcome is good.
University of Glasgow team
Until now little has been known about why some mothers go into labour early. However, recent research has found that treating some women with progesterone can decrease their chances of giving birth too soon.
The University of Glasgow team, led by Professor Jane Norman, one of the UK’s top experts in this field, will be studying why early labour starts and will look at how progesterone could prevent it from happening.
Touching Tiny Lives
Andrew Proctor of Action Medical Research welcomed the start of Professor Norman’s project saying, “We’re doing a lot of exciting work in this field since our £3 million Touching Tiny Lives Campaign is working towards stopping early birth and this project is looking at another very promising avenue."
