Investigation of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 4G/5G gen polymorphism in Turkish preeclamptic patients

INTRODUCTION: The plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1) is a genetic risk factor that plays a role in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia and elevated levels of PAI-1 may lead to an increased risk of thrombosis. At preent, there is considerable controversy about the association between PAI-1 gene polymorphism and preeclampsia. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the pattern of PAI-1 gene polymorphism is a useful marker for preeclampsia or not.
METHODS: Our study included 83 hypertensive pregnant women (64 preeclamptic women, 12 pregnant women with HELLP syndrome, and 7 eclamptic women) genotyped for PAI-1 gene polymorphism (4G/4G, 4G/5G, and 5G/5G) and 20 healthy pregnant women. The Chi square analysis was used to evaluate the differences in genotype and allele frequencies between hypertensive pregnant women and healthy controls.
RESULTS: The highest PAI-1 gene polymorphism rate was found in the hypertensive group and healthy controls in the 4G/5G allele distribution. No significant difference was determined between the hypertensive group and healthy controls regarding the distribution of PAI-1 4G/4G, 4G/5G, and 5G/5G polymorphic alleles.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: According to the results obtained from present study, we think that PAI-1 gene polymorphism does not contribute to individual differences for the sensitivity of preeclampsia development. However, prospective cohort studies with larger sample sizes are needed to clearly demonstrate the contribution of PAI-1 gene polymorphism to serious pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia.