Gene polymorphisms within regions of complement component C1q in HIV associated preeclampsia

Objective: This study investigates the association of C1q gene (rs292001 and rs294183) polymorphisms in HIV infected and uninfected preeclamptic women of African ancestry.Materials and methods: The study population consisted of 325 pregnant women of African ancestry grouped into 145 normotensive pregnant women (72 HIV uninfected normotensive, 73 HIV infected normotensive) and 180 preeclamptic pregnant women (103 HIV uninfected preeclamptics, 77 HIV infected preeclamptics). Preeclamptic pregnant women were further sub-grouped into 79 early-onset preeclampsia (EOPE) (40 HIV uninfected EOPE, 39 HIV infected EOPE) and 101 late-onset preeclampsia (LOPE) (63 HIV uninfected LOPE, 38 HIV infected LOPE). Genotyping of complement C1q gene polymorphisms (rs292001 and rs294183) was detected using a TaqMan (R) SNP Genotyping assay from purified DNA.Results: No significant differences in allelic and genotype frequencies of rs292001 and rs294183 between pre-eclamptic and normotensive women were observed. Likewise, there were no significant differences in allelic and genotype frequencies between HIV infected normotensive vs HIV infected preeclampsia and HIV uninfected normotensive vs HIV uninfected preeclampsia for both SNPs. However, the odds ratio of preeclamptic women having the GA genotype was 1:2.Conclusion: We demonstrate that SNPs of the C1q gene (rs292001 and rs294183) are not associated with the pathogenesis of PE development in women of African ancestry. The role of C1q rs292001 heterozygous GA is highlighted (with and without HIV infection) may affect susceptibility to PE development. Notably, this dysre-gulation may affect C1q translation and protein output thus influencing the downstream role of the complement system and functional immunology in HIV infection comorbid with PE.