VEGF-A and VEGFR1 SNPs associate with preeclampsia in a Philippine population

ABSTRACT

The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family is important for establishing normal pregnancy, and related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are implicated in abnormal placentation and preeclampsia. We evaluated the association between preeclampsia and several VEGF SNPs among Filipinos, an ethnically distinct group with high prevalence of preeclampsia. The genotypes and allelic variants were determined in a case–control study (191 controls and 165 preeclampsia patients) through SNP analysis of VEGF-A (rs2010963, rs3025039) and VEGF-C (rs7664413) and their corresponding receptors VEGFR1 (rs722503, rs12584067, rs7335588) and VEGFR3 (rs307826) from venous blood DNA. VEGF-A rs3025039 C allele has been shown to associate with preeclampsia (odds ratio of 1.648 (1.03–2.62)), while the T allele bestowed an additive effect for the maintenance of normal, uncomplicated pregnancy and against the development of preeclampsia (odds ratio of 0.62 (0.39–0.98)). VEGFR1 rs722503 is associated with preeclampsia occurring at or after the age of 40 years. The results showed that genetic variability of VEGF-A and VEGFR1 are important in the etiology of preeclampsia among Filipinos.

KEYWORDS:

• Association study
• preeclampsia
• single nucleotide polymorphism
• VEGF

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from the University of the Philippines Emerging Interdisciplinary Research (EIDR) Program, the Norma E. Clauss Clinical Research Award of the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, and NIH Grants R37HL023081 and HL092196.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from the University of the Philippines Emerging Interdisciplinary Research (EIDR) Program, the Norma E. Clauss Clinical Research Award of the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, and NIH Grants R37HL023081 and HL092196.