The 4G/5G polymorphism of the plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 gene is associated with severe preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is associated with thrombosis of the intervillous or spiral ar tery, A deletion/insertion polymorphism (4G or 5G) in the promoter of the p lasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-I) gene is suggested to be invol ved in regulating the synthesis of the inhibitor, 4G allele, being associat ed with the enhanced gene expression and plasma PAI-1 levels. We assessed t he association between preeclampsia and the 4G/5G polymorphism of the PAI-I gene in 115 preeclamptic patients, 210 pregnant controls, and 298 healthy volunteer controls. The frequency of the homozygotes for the 4G allele was significantly higher in the patients than in the control pregnant women (P = 0.04) or in the healthy volunteers (P = 0.02). The 4G allele frequency wa s also significantly higher in the patients than in the control group of pr egnant women (P = 0.03) and in the healthy volunteers (P = 0.02). These res ults suggest that the presence of the 4G/4G genotype of the PAI-1 gene is o ne of the risk factors for preeclampsia.