Pre-eclampsia is associated with HLA-DR4 sharing between mother and fetus

D C Kilpatrick1, F Gibson, J Livingston

  • 1Blood Transfusion Centre, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Tissue Antigens
|April 1, 1990
PubMed

Full HLA-A,B and DR typing was carried out on 92 women with proteinuric pre-eclampsia, 80 of their husbands and 46 of their babies. The results were compared with corresponding data from 65 normotensive pregnancies involving primiparous women. The frequency of HLA-DR4 was increased in the pre-eclamptic women (RR 3.1; p less than 0.005) and in the babies of pre-eclamptic pregnancies (RR 2.6; p less than 0.03). The strongest association, however, was with sharing of HLA-DR4 between mother and fetus (RR 4.2; p = 0.01). There was no increase in HLA antigen sharing in general between spouses or maternal-fetal pairs in pre-eclampsia. Nor did pre-eclamptic women exhibit increased homozygosity in general at any HLA locus. We conclude that genetic susceptibility to pre-eclampsia depends at least partly on fetomaternal compatibility for a gene or genes associated with HLA-DR4.

Related Concept Videos

Genetic Lingo01:11

Genetic Lingo

Overview
Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance02:30

Genomic Imprinting and Inheritance

Diploid organisms inherit genetic material through chromosomes from both parents. Copies of the same gene are known as alleles. In most cases, both alleles are simultaneously expressed and allow various cellular processes to function optimally. If one of the alleles is missing or mutated, the expression of the other allele can compensate; however, this is not true for all genes.
The expression of some genes depends on which parent passed the gene to the offspring, through a phenomenon known as...
Transcytosis of IgG01:15

Transcytosis of IgG

Transcytosis is the process in which molecules are internalized by endocytosis, transported across the cell, and released through exocytosis from the opposite end of the cell. Molecules such as insulin, immunoglobulins, and certain nutrients are transferred through the recycling endosomes by recycling and transcytosis.
IgG molecules from a mother undergo transcytosis starting around 13 weeks of gestation. The amount of IgG transferred and entering the fetal blood circulation increases with...
Teratogenicity01:07

Teratogenicity

The ability of a drug to produce structural deformations and functional abnormalities in the developing embryo or the fetus is called teratogenicity, and the drug producing this effect is known as a teratogen. Teratogenic effects include stillbirth, miscarriage, intrauterine growth restriction, and neurocognitive delay. A teratogen may affect the embryo at different stages of development, which is important in determining the type and extent of the damage. During blastocyst formation, the early...
Pathophysiology of Diabetes01:20

Pathophysiology of Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia. The four categories of diabetes are type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, other specific types of diabetes, and gestational diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is characterized by autoimmune-mediated destruction of pancreatic β cells, with environmental factors potentially triggering this process in genetically susceptible individuals. Despite many not having a family history, certain genes increase susceptibility, suggesting a...