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Causal Relationship Between Inflammation and Preeclampsia: Genetic Evidence from a Mendelian Randomization Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2023

Qiongxiang Zhong ,
Chanjiao Yao  and
Wei Zhong Open the ORCID record for Wei Zhong [Opens in a new window]
Qiongxiang Zhong
Affiliation:
No.2 Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital (The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University), Changsha, China
Chanjiao Yao
Affiliation:
No.2 Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital (The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University), Changsha, China
Wei Zhong*
Affiliation:
No.2 Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital (The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University), Changsha, China
*
Corresponding author: Wei Zhong; Email: drzhongwei@163.com
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Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy. PE patients were reported to have higher serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) than those in healthy controls. However, whether the expressions of these inflammation biomarkers have a causal relationship with PE is unspecified. We applied the Mendelian randomization method to infer the causal relationship between inflammation biomarkers (e.g., CRP, IL-6, interleukin 1 receptor antagonist [IL-1ra] and TNF-α) and PE. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) strongly related to inflammation biomarkers were used as instrumental variables. CRP, IL-1ra and IL-6 levels showed no significant effect on PE progression, while the genetic predicted higher level of TNF-α significantly increased the risk of PE (OR per 1-SD increase in TNF-α: 4.33; 95% CI [1.99, 9.39]; p = .00021). The findings suggest that pro-inflammatory activity of TNF-α could be a determinant for PE progression. More antenatal care should be given to those pregnant women with higher level of inflammation biomarkers, especially TNF-α.

Keywords

PreeclampsiaMendelian randomization methodinflammationTNF-α
Type
Article
Information
Twin Research and Human Genetics , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , June 2023 , pp. 231 - 235
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Society for Twin Studies

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