Association between interleukin-4 C-590T and C+33T genetic polymorphisms and risk of preeclampsia in pregnant women of Central China

The pathogenesis of preeclampsia involves many environmental and genetic factors. An excessive inflammatory response during pregnancy could cause an imbalance in the immune system, and thus contributes to the development of preeclampsia. Inflammatory cytokines produced by T-helper 2 cells, such as IL-4, contribute to inhibiting cellular immunity and inducing the placental growth. Two common genetic polymorphisms were observed in IL-4, including C-590T and C+33T. We performed a study to investigate the association between IL-4 C-590T and C+33T polymorphisms and development of preeclampsia in a Chinese pregnant women. We conducted a casecontrol study that included 162 pregnant women with preeclampsia and 266 healthy controls. The genotyping of the IL-4 C-590T and C+33T was carried out by a method of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). By logistic regression analysis, the CC genotype of IL-4 C-590T was significant associated with a reduced risk of preeclampsia when compared with the GG genotype, and the adjusted OR (95% CI) was 0.39 (0.15-0.90). In dominant model, we observed that the GC+CC genotype was correlated with a decreased risk of preeclampsia in comparison to the GG genotype (OR=0.59, 95% CI=0.35-0.97). In recessive model, we found that the CC genotype exposed a lower risk of preeclampsia than the GG+GC genotype (OR=0.41, 95% CI=0.16-0.94). However, no significant association was found between L-4 C+33T polymorphism and susceptibility to preeclampsia. In conclusion, our study suggests that IL-4 C-590T polymorphism could be a risk factor for preeclampsia.