ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have suggested an association of pregnancy-induced hypertension(PIH) with several genes involved in cardiovascular control. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the association between PIH and angiotensinogen(AGT) M235T gene and also to study the association between PIH and angiotensin-converting- enzyme(ACE). METHODS: DNA was extracted from whole blood, cheek swabs, and blood spot cards of 39 PIH patients and 54 controls. Controls consisted of women who had undergone at least two term pregnancies unaffected by PIH. All samples were genotyped for all the polymorphism using PCR of known alleic variants. Results were ananlyzed with a kappa2 contingency table. RESULTS: Four of 13 women with mild PIH(30.8%) and thirteen of 26 women with severe PIH(50.0%) were heterozygous for AGT M235T mutation compared with 26 of 54 controls(48.1%). Two of 13 women with mild PIH(15.4%) and two of 26 women with severe PIH(7.7%) were homozygous for AGT M235T mutation compared with 10 of 54 controls(18.6%). Six of 7 women with mild PIH(85.7%) and ten of 21 women with severe PIH(47.6%) were ID type for ACE gene compared with 31 of 56 controls(55.4%). One of 7 women with mild PIH(14.3%) and seven of 21 women with severe PIH(33.4%) were DD type for ACE gene compared with 15 of 56 controls(26.7%). There was no significance between mild, severe PIH patients and controls for AGT M235T mutation and ACE gene polymorphism. CONCLUSION: In Korean population, AGT M235T mutation and ACE gene are not associated with an increased risk for PIH.