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Polymorphism in the tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene in women with preeclampsia
Jaana Heiskanen1, Eeva-Liisa Romppanen, Mikko Hiltunen
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kuopio University Hospital, Finland.
Purpose:
We determined whether genetic variability in the gene encoding for tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) contributes to individual differences in susceptibility to the development of preeclampsia.
Methods:
The study involved 133 preeclamptic and 115 healthy control pregnant women who were genotyped for C-850T polymorphism in the TNF-alpha gene promoter. Chi-square analysis was used to assess genotype and allele frequency differences between preeclamptic women and controls.
Results:
A significantly different genotype distribution of C-850T polymorphism was observed between the two groups, with the frequency of the variant T allele being significantly reduced in the preeclamptic group (4.5%) when compared with the control group (9.6%) (P = 0.03; OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.22-0.92). Accordingly, the odds ratio for preeclampsia associated with the pooled TT and CT genotypes was 0.367 (P = 0.02; 95% CI = 0.159-0.847).
Conclusions:
The T allele of the TNF-alpha gene may modify individual preeclampsia risk, being protective against the development of the complication.