Gynecol Obstet Invest. 2003, 56(1): 17-22
Fabbro,D.; D'Elia,AV; Spizzo,R.; Driul,L.; Barillari,G.; Di Loreto,C.; Marchesoni,D.; Damante,G.
It is known that the plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) protein levels are
increased in placentas of preeclamptic subjects. Therefore, we assessed whether polymorphisms related to the
transcriptional control of the PAI-1 gene (-675 4G/5G and -844G/A) are associated with mild preeclampsia.
We compared 52 women with preeclampsia to 80 women with a normal pregnancy. None of the preeclamptic women
suffered from the severe form of preeclampsia. DNA was extracted from blood, and -675 4G/5G and -844G/A
genotypes of the PAI-1 gene were determined.
Since it has been shown that the presence of factor V Leiden,
prothrombin G20210A, and MTHFR C677T gene variants may be associated with preeclampsia, their frequency was
also evaluated in our study groups. The factor V Leiden, PT G20210A, and MTHFR C677T gene variants were not
associated with preeclampsia.
In the case of the -675 4G/5G polymorphism, genotypes 4G/4G and 5G/5G were more
prevalent in the preeclamptic and in the control group, respectively. In the case of -844 G/A polymorphism,
genotypes A/A and G/G were more prevalent in the preeclamptic and in the control group, respectively. By
using the chi(2) test for trend, differences for both genotypes were significant (p = 0.0141 for the -675
genotypes and p = 0.0492 for the -844 genotypes).
The frequency of the 4G and 5G alleles of the -675 gene
polymorphism was significantly different between preeclamptic and normal women (p = 0.032). Differently,
the allelic frequency of the -844 gene polymorphism did not show significant differences between
preeclamptic and normal women (p = 0.083).
In conclusion, the hypofibrinolytic genotypes 4G/4G and A/A at
positions -675 and -844 of the PAI-1 gene are associated with the occurrence of mild preeclampsia
independently of thrombophilic mutations of the factor V, prothrombin, and MTHFR genes.