Dinucleotide repeat polymorphism in Fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (Flt-1) gene is not associated with preeclampsia

• Main Authors: Park So-Yeon (Author), Choi Jun-Seek (Author), Ahn Hyun-Kyong (Author), Han Jung-Yeol (Author), Kim Moon-Young (Author), Yang Jae-Hyug (Author), Lim Ji-Hyae (Author), Kim Shin-Young (Author), Kim Mi-Jin (Author), Ryu Hyun-Mee (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: BMC, 2008-07-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity. The etiology of preeclampsia remains unclear. Recently, it was shown that misregulation of fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (Flt-1) in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of pregnant women results in over-expression of the soluble splice variant of Flt-1, sFlt-1, producing an additional (extra-placental) source of sFlt-1 that can contribute to the etiology of preeclampsia. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between preeclampsia and a dinucleotide (threonine-glycine; TG)_nrepeat polymorphism in the 3' non-coding region of the Flt-1 gene.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The number of the d(TG)_nrepeats was analyzed in 170 patients with preeclampsia and in 202 normotensive pregnancies. The region containing the dinucleotide repeat polymorphism of the Flt-1 gene was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from the DNA samples and was analyzed by direct PCR sequencing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found 10 alleles of the dinucleotide repeat polymorphism and designated these as allele*12 (A1) through allele*23 (A12) according to the number of the TG repeats, from 12 to 23. The frequency of the 14-repeat allele (A3) was most abundant (63.82% in preeclampsia and 69.06% in controls), followed by the 21-repeat allele (A10; 28.53% in preeclampsia and 23.76% in controls). There was no significant difference in the allele frequency between patients with preeclampsia and normal controls. The most common genotype in preeclamptic and normotensive pregnancies was heterozygous (TG)₁₄/(TG)₂₁(41.76%) and homozygous (TG)₁₄/(TG)₁₄(45.05%), respectively. However, the genotype frequencies were not significantly different between preeclamptic patients and controls.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first study to characterize the dinucleotide repeat polymorphism of the Flt-1 gene in patients with preeclampsia. We found no differences in the allele or genotype frequencies between patients with preeclampsia and normal pregnancies. Although limited by a relatively small sample size, our study suggests that the d(TG)_nrepeat polymorphism of the Flt-1 gene is not associated with the development of preeclampsia in Korean pregnant women.</p>

Item Description

10.1186/1471-2350-9-68
1471-2350