Genetic variants in pre-eclampsia: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Pre-eclampsia has a clear familial component, suggesting that the condition may be partly attributable to genetic susceptibility. The search for susceptibility genes has led to a drastic increase in the number of published studies associating genetic factors with pre-eclampsia. However, attempts to replicate these findings have yielded inconsistent results. This meta-analysis assessed the pooled effect of each genetic variant that is reproducibly associated with pre-eclampsia. METHODS Studies that assessed the association between genes and pre-eclampsia were searched in PubMed, Embase and Web of Science. We selected all genetic variants that were significantly associated with pre-eclampsia in an initial study and were subsequently independently reproduced in at least one additional study. All studies that assessed these reproduced variants were then included. The association between genetic variants and pre-eclampsia was calculated at the allele level, and the main measure of effect was a pooled odds ratio in a random-effects model. RESULTS The literature search yielded 2965 articles, of which 542 investigated genetic associations in pre-eclampsia. We identified 22 replicated genetic variants, of which 7 remained significantly associated with pre-eclampsia following meta-analysis. These variants were in or near the following genes: ACE, CTLA4, F2, FV, LPL and SERPINE1. CONCLUSIONS This meta-analysis identified seven genetic variants associated with pre-eclampsia. Importantly, many of these variants are also risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease, revealing that pre-eclampsia and cardiovascular disease have shared genetic risk factors. The contribution of the identified genetic variants in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia should be the focus of future studies.

Electronic band structure of tetracene-TCNQ and perylene-TCNQ compounds.

The relationship between the crystal structures, band structures, and electronic properties of acene-TCNQ complexes has been investigated. We focus on the newly synthesized crystals of the charge-transfer salt tetracene-TCNQ and similar to it perylene-TCNQ, potentially interesting for realization of ambipolar transport. The band structures were calculated from first principles using density-functional theory (DFT). Despite the similarity in the crystal structures of the acene-TCNQ complexes studied here, the band structures are very different. Hole and electron transport properties are predicted to be equally good in perylene-TCNQ, in contrast to the tetracene-TCNQ, which has good transport properties for electrons only. The estimated degree of charge transfer for tetracene-TCNQ is 0.13e and for perylene-TCNQ 0.46e.