A genome-wide scan reveals a maternal susceptibility locus for pre-eclampsia on chromosome 2p13

Pre-eclampsia is a common and serious disease and a major cause of maternal and infant mortality, Antenatal care systems world-wide screen for signs o f the disease such as hypertension and proteinuria. Unlike most other human disorders it impacts two individuals, the mother and the child, both of wh om can be severely affected. The pathophysiology of the disorder is incompl etely understood, but familial clustering of the disease is apparent, Here we report the results of a genome-wide screen of Icelandic families represe nting 343 affected women. Including those patients with nonproteinuric pre- eclampsia (gestational hypertension), proteinuric pre-eclampsia and eclamps ia, we detected a significant locus on 2p13 with a lod score of 4.70 (singl e point P < 3.49 x 10(-6)). This is the first reported locus for pre-eclamp sia meeting the criteria for genome-wide significance.