KvDMR AND H19DMR METHYLATION PATTERN IN WOMEN WITH PRECLAMPSIA/ECLAMPSIA

• Grant number: 07/05982-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2008
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Ester Silveira Ramos
• Grantee: Karine Coelho
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

SUMMARYPre-eclampsia (PE) is characterized by hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks of gestation. The progression to eclampsia (E) is one of the leading causes of maternal and fetal death. The etiology is unknown, but there are evidences that genetics predisposition is involved in the development of PE. Some authors have been suggested that alterations in the genomic imprinting, an epigenetically regulated mechanism in which the gene expression depends of parental origin (paternal or maternal), could be involved in the development of the disease. Important fetal and placental developmental genes, regulated by imprinting control regions (ICRs) as the KvDMR1 (or ICR2), are mapped on chromosomal 11p15.5 region. The following study attempts as major objective to associate PE and modifications of the KvDMR1 methylation patterns. Placental samples of 10 pregnant women with clinical PE and 20 primiparous or multiparous women without clinical PE history will be collected. After the placental tissue DNA extraction, molecular biology techniques [Methylation Specific Polymerase Chain Reaction (MS-PCR) and Enzymatic Digestion Methylation-Sensitive associated with Real Time PCR (DESM-RT)] will be useful to accurate the KvDMR1 methylation patterns. The results, besides the scientific goals, will be correlated to the clinical findings allowing, in the future, acting as an epigenetic marker to PE.