Relationship between polymorphisms of CXCL3 gene and preeclampsia

Preeclampsia (PE), a pregnancy-specific disease, is a main cause of maternal and perinatal mortality in the world, the exact pathogenesis of which is still unknown. Recent studies have found it is a disorder caused by multiple factors and genes. Previously, we found a significantly abnormal expression of CXCL3 in plasma and placenta of severe preeclampsia. Here, we intend to explore the association of polymorphisms in CXCL3 gene with preeclampsia susceptibility in women from western China.

Four hundred eighty-one pregnant women were involved in this case-control study, including 83 early-onset severe preeclampsia cases, 114 late-onset severe preeclampsia cases, 41 mild preeclampsia cases and 243 normal pregnancies. The rs370655 variant in CXCL3 was detected by the method of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP).

No significantly reduced risk of preeclampsia is observed in the rs370655 AA genotype compared with other genotypes (AG versus AA: OR = .82, 95%CI = .54-1.26; GG versus AA: OR = .95, 95%CI = .56-1.61). After subgroup analysis, there are still no significant differences among various genotypes in the mild preeclampsia, early-onset severe preeclampsia and late-onset sever preeclampsia.

Our study suggests that rs370655 polymorphism in CXCL3 gene may be not the risk factor of preeclampsia, exploring other consequential SNPs in CXCL3 gene may help to predict the preeclampsia.