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A polymorphism of the interleukin-1beta gene and idiopathic recurrent miscarriage
L A Hefler1, C B Tempfer, G Unfried
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Vienna Medical School, Vienna, Austria.
Objective:
Proinflammatory cytokines have been described to be involved in the pathogenesis of idiopathic recurrent miscarriage (IRM). We investigated the association between IRM and a polymorphism in exon 5 of the interleukin-1beta gene (IL1B) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) serum levels.
Design:
Case control study.
Setting:
Academic research institution.
Subjects:
One hundred thirty-one women with a history of three or more consecutive pregnancy losses before 20 weeks' gestation and 68 healthy controls with at least two live births and no history of pregnancy loss.
Interventions:
Peripheral venous puncture.
Main Outcome Measures:
An IL1B exon 5 (position +3953) gene polymorphism was analyzed by PCR amplification followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. IL-1beta serum levels were analyzed by a commercially available ELISA.
Results:
Allele frequencies in women with IRM and controls were 77.9% and 80.8%, respectively, for the E1 allele (wild type), and 22.1% and 19.2%, respectively, for the E2 allele (mutant). No association between the E2 allele and the occurrence of IRM was found (P=.57, odds ratio =.83). Genotype frequencies and IL-1beta serum levels were not significantly different between the study group and the control group.
Conclusions:
This is the first report on an IL1B polymorphism in IRM. Although known to alter IL-1beta expression, the investigated IL1B polymorphism is not associated with IRM and increased serum levels in a large Caucasian population.