ABSTRACT
Hypertensive disorders are a major cause of maternal and fetal death especially in developing nations. Preeclampsia has a familial component suggesting that one or more common alleles may act as susceptibility genes. Some families may have [private] predisposing mutations. Preeclampsia and its association with thrombophilia remain controversial, due to inconsistent results in different studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between thrombophilic genes mutations and preeclampsia in pregnant women in our region. We compared 15 consecutive women with preeclampsia with 10 normal pregnant women. All women were tested for mutations of factor V lieden, Factor II [prothrombin gene], Factor XIII, B fibrinogen, plasminogen activator inhibitor -1 4G/5G [PAI-1 4G/5G], methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase [M.THR], angiotensin -converting enzyme [ACE] I/D, apolipoproteins [APO E and APO B] genes. This study was based on reverse - hybridization technique using cardiovascular disease strip [CVD] assay. PAI-1 4G/5G polymorphism was highly significantly increased in patient group as compared to control group [60% versus 0%, p= 0.000]. No significant differences were noticed as regards other thrombophilic genes in control and patient groups. We suggest that the pattern of PAI 4G/5G polymorphism might represent a useful marker of increased risk of preeclampsia in our region. Also our findings suggest that women with severe complications of pregnancy should be tested for markers of thrombophilia