ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is implicated in several aspects of pregnancy. As genetic predisposition can be involved in the development of preeclampsia, the association between IL-10's promoter region polymorphisms and this pathology has been investigated, although with conflicting results. To date, only a small cohort study (total nâ¯=â¯40) has evaluated this association in the African continent, and none have been conducted in Tunisia. Hence, we evaluated the association between these polymorphisms and the risk of preeclampsia in a large Tunisian cohort. STUDY DESIGN: 345 preeclampsia patients and 300 controls were genotyped for the IL-10 promoter region variants -1082A/G, -819C/T and -592A/C using real-time PCR. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences in means were determined by Student's t-test, while intergroup significance was assessed by Pearson χ2 or 2-way ANOVA. Genotypes were tested for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in the control and cases. Logistic regression analysis was performed in order to determine the odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals associated with the linkage disequilibrium risk. RESULTS: An increased frequency of the -819â¯T (minor) allele and the -819â¯T/T genotype was seen in preeclampsia cases. Also, three-locus haplotype (-1082AG/-819CT/-592AC) analysis identified the ATA haplotype as having a higher incidence in women with preeclampsia (ORâ¯=â¯1.48, 95% CI: 1.03-2.11) and this was confirmed by multivariate regression analysis (ORâ¯=â¯1.65, 95% CI: 1.13-2.43) after controlling for covariates. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the IL-10 -819â¯T/T variant and the ATA haplotype, which are associated with low production of IL 10, represent genetic risk factors for preeclampsia in Tunisian women.
