Polymorphisms in the vascular endothelial growth factor gene associated with recurrent spontaneous miscarriage

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the association between the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) polymorphism and the risk of recurrent spontaneous miscarriage (RSM).

Methods: The participants enrolled included 227 RSM patients and 232 women with normal fertility. We examined the potential association between RSM and 13 single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs699947, rs1570360, rs2010963, rs833068, rs833069, rs3024997, rs3024998, rs3025000, rs3025006, rs3025010, rs3025020, rs3025030 and rs3025039) of VEGF gene using the MassARRAY system.

Results: The results showed that rs3025020 located at intron 6 of VEGF gene was significantly associated with RSM (χ²= 12.6385, p = 0.0004, odds ratio (OR) = 1.6109, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.2377–2.0967). Another significant association was observed for rs3025039 located in the 3′-untranslated region of VEGF gene (χ²= 9.7256, p = 0.0018, OR = 1.6492, 95% CI = 1.2023–2.2622). Furthermore, strong linkage disequilibrium was observed in three blocks (D′ > 0.9), and significantly more T–G–C haplotypes (p = 0.0286) and fewer C–G–C haplotypes (p = 0.0006 after Bonferroni correction) residing in block 3 were found in RSM patients.

Conclusion: These findings point to a role for VEGF gene polymorphisms in RSM, and may be informative for future genetic or neurobiological studies on RSM.

• Recurrent spontaneous miscarriage
• single nucleotide polymorphisms
• vascular endothelial growth factor

Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by Shanxi Province Basic Research Development Program (#2010k15-06-05).