Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on May 18, 2005
Molecular Human Reproduction 2005 11(6):437-440; doi:10.1093/molehr/gah182
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tumour necrosis factor-
gene haplotype is associated with pre-eclampsia
1Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2Neurology and Neuroscience and 3Medicine, University of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland
4 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Kuopio University Hospital, 70211 Kuopio, Finland. Email: seppo.heinonen{at}kuh.fi
We determined whether polymorphisms in the promoter region of the tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-
) gene contributes to differences in susceptibility to develop pre-eclampsia. The study involved 133 pre-eclamptic and 115 healthy pregnant women who were genotyped for the G-308A polymorphism of the TNF-
gene. The frequency of the G-308A allele was more common in the pre-eclampsia group than among the controls (P=0.046), giving an odds ratio of 0.57 (95% CI: 0.320.99), but there were no differences in the genotype distribution. The data from the G-308A polymorphism was combined with the previously published genotype and allele data from the C-850T polymorphism of the TNF-
gene, and used to assess a haplotype estimation analysis. Estimated overall pair of loci haplotype frequencies differed significantly between the groups (P=0.023±0.004). In the single haplotype association analysis, the haplotype C-A versus others was over-represented in the pre-eclampsia group (P=0.041±0.003), whereas the haplotype T-G versus others was less common in the pre-eclampsia group (P=0.035±0.003), compared with the controls. In conclusion, the polymorphisms of the TNF-
gene showed a significant haplotype association with susceptibility to pre-eclampsia in the Finnish population.
Key words: tumour necrosis factor alpha/polymorphism/pre-eclampsia/haplotype