The follicle-stimulating hormone receptor Asn680Ser polymorphism is associated with preterm birth in Hispanic women.

OBJECTIVE: Recently, a study based on the analysis of accelerated evolution of related genes at birth identified the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) as a possible candidate for the development of preterm delivery. Additionally, FSHR expression has been described in extragonadal tissue including the placenta. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine the association between the N680S polymorphism of the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor and preterm birth in a population of Hispanic women. METHODS: Placenta samples were obtained from 64 women who had preterm births and 54 control cases. DNA was extracted and genotyped for the N680S FSHR gene polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The χ2 test and t-test were used to calculate statistical significance. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences in genotype frequencies for the N680S polymorphism were observed between preterm and term groups (p = .04). Based on the Akaike information criterion values, the dominant model showed that the NN genotype had a significantly increased risk of preterm birth compared with the SS + NS genotype (OR 2.52, 95% CI 1.20-5.33, p = .02). CONCLUSIONS: The results herein suggest that the FSHR polymorphism N680S is significantly associated with preterm birth in the Hispanic population.