Are placental Fas and Fas ligand gene polymorphisms associated with preeclampsia

Introduction Increased placental trophoblastic apoptosis has been reported in pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia. Fas–Fas ligand is one of the major signal transduction pathways of apoptosis. Objectives To determine if placental Fas and Fas ligand gene polymorphisms differ between patients with and without preeclampsia. Methods Forty-five singleton placentas were studied. Twenty-three placentas were from preeclamptic pregnancies and 22 were from normotensive controls. The study was approved by IRB. Genotyping was performed for Fas-1377, Fas-691, Fas-670, Fas ligand-844, Fas ligand-1174, Fas ligand-2777. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used for statistical analysis. Results There were no significant differences in maternal age, parity or race between the two groups. There were no significant differences in genotypes or allele frequencies for the placental Fas-1377, Fas-691, Fas-670, Fas ligand-844, Fas ligand-1174 and Fas ligand-2777. Conclusion Immune intolerance of maternal and placental interaction plays an important role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Our findings do not support the role of placental Fas and Fas ligand gene polymorphisms in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. The heterogeneous and complex etiology of preeclampsia makes it unrealistic to expect a single nucleotide polymorphism to explain the pathogenesis of this pregnancy complication. This relatively understudied area warrants further investigation.