TNF-α and its Association with Nitric Oxide synthase gene in Preeclampsia

Abstract

Pathophysiological processes in preeclampsia (PE) are influenced by genetic factors. To better characterize the host genetic factors determining the susceptibility to PE, we evaluated the influence of two polymorphisms in the NOS2A gene on the risk of developing PE and correlated with TNF- α. The polymorphisms were studied by DNA sequencing and the levels of TNF- α were measured by high sensitivity enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. The study subjects were 30 pre-eclamptic women compared by age matched 30 healthy pregnant women. Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric analyses of variance followed by Mann-Whitney U-test were used for statistical analysis. Both (G300A Exon8 and G274TExon16) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) showed statistically significant association with preeclampsia (p< 0.05). The levels of TNF- α in pre-eclamptic subject were increased significantly when compared with the healthy controls (P < 0.001).  Higher TNF- α level was observed in TT genotypes of G274T Exon16 in comparison to GG or GT genotypes in preeclamptic patients.These results indicate the relationship between increased TNF- α levels and NOS2A polymorphism leading to its altered expression in preeclamptic patients.