Absence of Factor V Leiden, thrombomodulin and prothrombin gene variants in Black South African women with pre-eclampsia and eclampsia

• Published in: BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology Vol. 110; no. 3; pp. 327 - 328
• Main Authors: Hira, B, Pegoraro, R.J, Rom, L, Moodley, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier B.V 01.03.2003; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; African Continental Ancestry Group - genetics; Base Pair Mismatch - genetics; Biological and medical sciences; Diseases of mother, fetus and pregnancy; Eclampsia - genetics; Factor V - genetics; Factor V Deficiency - genetics; Female; Gene Rearrangement - genetics; Genotype; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Medical sciences; Mutation - genetics; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Pre-Eclampsia - genetics; Pregnancy; Pregnancy. Fetus. Placenta; Prothrombin - genetics; South Africa - ethnology; Thrombomodulin - genetics; South Africa; Africa; Human; Factor V Leiden; Pregnancy disorders; Pathogenesis; Genetic variant; Genotype; Hemopathy; Pregnancy toxemia; African; Polymerase chain reaction; Gene; Cohort study; Preeclampsia; Eclampsia; Prothrombin; Female; Mutation; Molecular biology; Thrombomodulin; Coagulation factor; Coagulopathy
• ISSN: 1470-0328; 1471-0528
• DOI: 10.1016/S1470-0328(02)01590-2

It has been suggested that gene aberrations may contribute to vascular endothelial dysfunction of pre-eclampsia in Caucasian and Japanese women. This study was undertaken to examine the association between pre-eclampsia in Black Zulu speaking South African women and the Factor 5 Leiden mutation. 100 patients with pre-eclampsia comprised the study group. The control group comprised 110 normotensive pregnant women of the same population group. Genotyping was performed to detect the G or A allele at residue 506 of the Factor V gene, and the C or T allele at residue 455 of the thrombomodulin gene. Our findings demonstrate that these particularly genetic loci are of little use in disease association studies for pre-eclampsia in homogenous Zulu speaking Africans.