Gene-environment interaction ups risk of preeclampsia

Ang Zhou, M.D., from the University of Adelaide in Australia, and colleagues analyzed data from 2,121 Caucasian parent-infant trios, 123 of whom had preeclamptic pregnancies; 1,185 uncomplicated pregnancies served as controls. DNA was extracted from buffy coats and genotyped for polymorphisms in AGT1R and AGT2R. Doppler sonography was performed at 20 weeks of gestation on the uterine arteries.

The researchers identified four polymorphisms in AGT1R and AGT2R genes (AGT1R A1166C, AGT2R C4599A, AGT2R A1675G, and AGT2R T1134C), with significant associations observed for AGT2R C4599A. For women with BMI ≥25 kg/m², maternal and neonatal AGT2R C4599A AA versus CC genotype correlated with an increased risk for preeclampsia (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.1 and 3.0, respectively). In the same subset of women, the paternal AGT2R C4599A A allele versus the C allele correlated with an increased risk for preeclampsia and uterine artery bilateral notching at 20 weeks of gestation (aOR, 1.9 and 2.1, respectively).

"AGT2R C4599A in mothers, fathers, and babies was associated with preeclampsia and this association was only apparent in pregnancies in which the women had a BMI ≥25 kg/m², suggesting a gene-environment interaction," Zhou and colleagues conclude.

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