Role of osteoprotegerin gene variants in early-onset severe pre-eclampsia

The aim of this study was to detect the role of osteoprotegerin (OPG) gene variants in early-onset severe pre-eclampsia.

The associations of 163A/G (rs3102735) and 950T/C (rs2073617) polymorphisms of OPG with pre-eclampsia (60 cases of early-onset severe pre-eclampsia and 91 cases of late-onset pre-eclampsia), as well as with the clinical manifestations of individuals, were evaluated.

Data showed lower frequencies of TC and TC + CC genotypes and C allele of 950T/C in the early-onset group than those of the control and late-onset groups (P = 0.003; P = 0.002; P = 0.005; P = 0.031; P = 0.021; P = 0.022). However, no significant differences were found in genotype and allele frequencies between the late-onset and control groups. Moreover, no significant differences were observed in the genotype and allele frequencies of 163A/G polymorphism among the three groups. In the early-onset group, 950T/C TC + CC genotype carriers exhibited significantly lower systolic blood pressure ([147.25 ± 11.89] mmHg) and 24-h urine protein ([2.46 ± 0.92] g) than the TT carriers ([165.88 ± 20.39] mmHg, [3.64 ± 0.81] g) (P = 0.003; P = 0.001, respectively). Serum creatinine was significantly higher in women with the 163A/G AG + GG genotypes ([82.31 ± 11.66] μmol/L) than in those with the AA genotype ([71.90 ± 16.85] μmol/L) (P = 0.003).

This study implicates that OPG gene variants may be associated with early-onset severe pre-eclampsia.