Association of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Human Tumor Necrosis Factor-α and Interleukin 1-β Genes in Patients with Pre-eclampsia

Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy-specific syndrome that may be dangerous especially to the fetus. different cytokines have been found to be elevated in women with pre-eclampsia and may have possible roles in the development of this disorder. alleles of the interleukin-l-beta (il-lβ) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (tnf-α) genes are associated with pr-eeclampsia in several studies in different populations. the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between il-lβ (c+3954t) and tnf-α (g-308a) gene polymorphisms with preeclampsia in north east of iran (khorasan province). this study included 54 diagnosed patients with pre-eclampsia and 50 normal pregnant women as control group. dna was extracted from peripheral blood and the polymorphisms were determined by pcr-rflp method. data was analyzed using chi-square and fisher’s exact tests. there was significant association between tnf-α (g-308a) genotype and pre-eclampsia (p=0.001) but we did not find any significant association between il-lβ (c+3954t) genotype and pre-eclampsia (p=0.39). the present study might suggest a role for tnf-α in the development of pre-eclampsia; however, il-lβ (c+3954t) polymorphism could not be considered as a marker of susceptibility to preeclampsia in our population.