Apolipoprotein E polymorphism - a risk factor in Romanian pregnant women with preeclampsia

Objectives. to determine the influence of the APOE genotypes on blood lipid levels, the degree of severity and perinatal outcome of preeclampsia. Study design. the APOE genotypes were performed in 101 pregnant women, 51 preeclamptic and 50 healthy pregnant women using PCR-FRLP methods. We compared genotype and allele frequencies between women with preeclampsia and normal pregnant women by Fisher's exact test two-sided. We calculated odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). The significance of results was defined as p < 0.05. Results. Different distribution of the APOE genotypes in pregnant women with preeclampsia compared to normal pregnant women was observed. Higher frequency of epsilon 3/epsilon 4 genotypes was found in pregnant women with PIH, mild and severe preeclampsia compared to normal pregnant women. Higher TG and LDL-C levels and lower HDL-C levels in women with the epsilon 4 allele as compared to women with the epsilon 3/epsilon 3 genotype was observed. Preeclamptic women with the epsilon 4 allele delivered earlier neonates with lower birth weight compared to preeclamptic women with epsilon 3/epsilon 3 genotype. The study is of interest in part due to the novelty of the methods applied for the epsilon 4 allele determination. Conclusions: We observed a significant association of the epsilon 3/epsilon 4 genotype with PIH and severe preeclampsia. The epsilon 4 allele represents a risk factor for dyslipidemia and influence the perinatal outcome of preeclampsia.