Association of arginine vasopressin (AVP) promoter polymorphisms with preeclampsia

Objectives: Preeclampsia (PE) is a disease of pregnancy characterized by early onset of maternal hypertension and proteinuria. New findings indicate that arginine vasopressin (AVP) may be a contributing factor to ignite PE. The aim of this study was to identify if there is any correlation between arginine vasopressin promoter polymorphisms and PE. Study design: Venous blood samples of 100 PE and 100 normal pregnant women were obtained for DNA extraction to identify the polymorphisms of AVP promoter by RFLP and nested-PCR techniques. Main outcome: rs3729965 polymorphism of PE women was detected to have significant correlation with body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.028). Results: Statistical analysis of three polymorphisms namely rs3729965, rs61138008 and rs3761249 of preeclamptic women (PEW) and none preeclamptic pregnant women (NPEW) revealed that rs3729965 genotypic distribution was significantly different between both groups (P = 0.04). Further analysis revealed that rs3729965 CT genotype of PEW had significant correlation to their BMI (P = 0.028). Conclusion: Polymorphic variants located on the promoter region of AVP are associated with PE. Thus we hypothesize that allelic variation may have a role in increasing the risk of developing PE.