Vascular endothelial growth factor family gene polymorphisms in preeclampsia in Sinhalese women in Sri-Lanka

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the association of polymorphisms in the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family genes (VEGFA rs699947, VEGFA rs3025039, PGF rs1042886, KDR rs2071559 and KDR rs2305948) with preeclampsia in Sinhalese women in Sri-Lanka. Methods: We conducted a case-control study where 175 nulliparous Sinhalese women with preeclampsia and 171 normotensive women matched for age, ethnicity, parity and BMI were recruited in tertiary care maternity hospitals in Sri-Lanka. Preeclampsia was diagnosed using international guidelines. DNA extracted from peripheral venous blood and was genotyped using the Sequenom MassARRAY system. χ²-test was used to compare the distribution of allele and genotype frequencies between the cases and the control subjects. Results: The frequency of PGF rs1042886 variant allele (odds ratio (OR) 1.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1–2.1) and dominant genotype model (aOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0–2.4) were increased in preeclamptic women compared to controls. VEGFA rs699947, VEGFA rs3025039, KDR rs2071559, and KDR rs2305948 polymorphisms were not associated with preeclampsia. Conclusion: Maternal PGF rs1042886 polymorphism is associated with preeclampsia in Sinhalese women in Sri-Lanka.

Keywords::

• VEGF
• PlGF
• KDR
• polymorphism
• preeclampsia

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the women who generously consented to participate in this study. P.H.A., G.A.D., V.H.W.D., R.W.J., and C.T.R. contributed to the design of the candidate gene association study. P.H.A. performed the statistical analyses of the data and wrote the manuscript. T.B.M. conducted the bioinformatics assessment. All authors critically reviewed the manuscript for important intellectual content and edited the manuscript to produce the final draft.

Disclosure of Interest: This study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the University of Adelaide in Australia and the Sri Lanka Medical Association (Glaxo Welcome Research Award 2002) in Sri-Lanka. P.H.A. holds an Australian Leadership Award funded by the Australian Government. The study sponsors had no role in study design, data analyses, and interpretation or writing this report. The authors report no declaration of interest.