A Comparison of Apelin Rs56204867 and Apelin Receptor Rs11544374 Gene Polymorphisms and Their Association with Risk of Preeclampsia in Southeast Iran.

Abstract

Background: Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a severe pregnancy condition with genetic and environmental factors affecting the placental function and vascular changes. Genetic variants in the apelinergic system may influence preeclampsia risk and birth outcomes. Therefore, this study aimed to compare apelin (APLN) rs56204867 and apelin receptor (APLNR) rs11544374 gene polymorphisms and to investigate their association with mothers' body mass index and infant's birth weight among women with preeclampsia and control group in southeast Iran.

Methods: A total of 123 PE patients and 125 age- and gender-matched control subjects were enrolled in the study. The PCR-RFLP method was employed to genotype the APLN rs56204867 and APLNR rs11544374 gene polymorphisms.

Results: There was no significant association between the genotypes of the rs11544374 variant and the PE risk. The incidence of the AG genotype of the rs54204867 variant in the control group was considerably greater than in the PE group. Also, a significant relationship was found between the body mass profile of patients with PE and the APLN rs54204867 gene polymorphism.

Conclusions: It was observed that the APLN rs54204867 gene polymorphism could affect the PE risk. No significant difference was found between the PE group and the control group in terms of the genotypes of the APLNR rs11544374 variant. It was not statistically significant between mothers' BMI and rs11544374 of the APLNR gene, whereas an obvious link was observed between mothers' BMI and rs54204867 of the APLN gene.