Method for the diagnosis of disorders caused by fetal alcohol syndrome

1. A method of treatment of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) in a subject believed to be suffering from an FASD comprising the following steps:

a) measuring the amount of placental growth factor (PIGF) in a biological sample from said subject by measuring the amount of the polypeptide;

b) comparing the amount of PIGF from step a) with a reference;

c) verifying an FASD in said subject, and

d) treating a subject verified to have an FASD.

2. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that the reference is a measurement of the amount of PIGF in a healthy individual.

3. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that an amount of FIGF from step a) lower than the reference indicates that the subject suffers from an FASD.

4. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that an amount of PIGF from step a) lower than the reference indicates a brain vascular disorganisation in the subject.

5. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that said biological sample is obtained from the placenta.

6. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that the amount of PIGF is measured by a method selected from immunohistology, immunoprecipitation, Western blot, dot blot, ELISA or ELISPOT, ECLIA, protein arrays, antibody arrays, or tissue arrays coupled with immunohistochemistry, FRET or BRET techniques, microscopy or histochemistry methods, confocal microscopy and electron microscopy methods, methods based on the use of one or more excitation wavelengths and a suitable optical method, an electrochemical method (voltammetry and amperometry techniques), atomic force microscopy, and radio frequency methods, multipolar resonance spectroscopy, confocal and non-confocal, detection of fluorescence, luminescence, chemiluminescence, absorbance, reflectance, transmittance, and birefringence or refractive index, surface plasmon resonance, ellipsometry, a resonant mirror method, flow cytometry, radioisotope or magnetic resonance imaging, analysis by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), HPLC-mass spectrophotometry and liquid chromatography-mass spectrophotometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

7. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that the amount of PIGF is determined by a method selected from immunoprecipitation, immunohistology, Western blot, dot blot, ELISA or ELISPOT, ECLIA, protein arrays, antibody arrays, or tissue arrays coupled with immunohistochemistry.

8. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that the amount of PIGF is determined by Western blot or by ELISA.

9. The method of claim 1 , characterised in that the amount of PIGF is normalised relative to a control marker.

10. The method of claim 9 , characterised in that the control marker is a gene selected from the group consisting of β-2 microglobulin gene (B2M), transferrin receptor gene (TFRC), Tyrosine 3-monooxygenase/tryptophan 5-monooxygenase activation protein, zeta polypeptide (YWHAZ), ribosomal protein LO gene(RPLO), 18S ribosomal RNA, Beta-glucuronidase gene (GUSB), ubiquitin C gene (UBC), Tata Binding Protein gene (TBP), Glyceraldehyde -3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (GAPDH), peptidylprolyl isomerase A gene (PPIA), DNA-directed RNA polymerase II subunit RPB 1 gene (POLR 2 A), β-actin gene (ACTB), Phosphoglycerate kinase 1 gene (PGK1), hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase gene (HPRT1), Importin 8 gene (IPO8) and hydroxymethylbilane synthase gene (HMBS), or a polypeptide selected from the products of said genes.

11. The method of claim 1 , characterized in that said biological sample is obtained from the cord blood.