Please cite this article in press as: Feizollahzadeh, S., et al., Promoter region polymorphisms in the transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF1) gene and serum TGF1 concentration in preeclamptic and control Iranian women. J. Reprod. Immunol. (2012), doi:10.1016/j.jri.2012.02.006 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model JRI-2113; No. of Pages 6 Journal of Reproductive Immunology xxx (2012) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Reproductive Immunology j o ur nal homep age : w w w.elsevier.com/locate/jreprimm Promoter region polymorphisms in the transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF1) gene and serum TGF1 concentration in preeclamptic and control Iranian women Sadegh Feizollahzadeh a , Robabeh Taheripanah b , Masood Khani a , Babak Farokhi a , Dawar Amani a,∗ a Department of Immunology, Medical School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran b Department of Infertility & Reproductive Health Research Center, Shaheed Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 7 September 2011 Received in revised form 31 January 2012 Accepted 13 February 2012 Available online xxx Keywords: Pre-eclampsia TGF1 Polymorphism Iran a b s t r a c t Preeclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy associated disorder characterized by hypertension and proteinuria, which causes neonatal and maternal morbidity and mortality. The Th1/Th2 cytokine paradigm of the immune adaptation in pregnancy is now expanded to include Th1/Th2/Th17 and regulatory T (Treg) cells. Among cytokines, TGF1 has properties that justify evaluation of its role in PE etiopathology. In this investigation the polymorphisms of the TGF1 gene at promoter region, positions -800G→A and -509C→T, were studied in 142 PE and 140 normal pregnant female subjects using PCR-RFLP. Additionally, serum TGF1 was determined by ELISA. At position -800G→A genotypes and allele frequencies showed no significant differences between PE patients (GG 73.9%; GA 21.1%; AA 4.93%) and normal control (GG 70%; GA 28.6%; AA 1.4%) women. However the AA genotype at this position was more frequent in PE patients than in the control group. At -509C→T position, genotypes and allele frequencies showed no significant differences between PE patients and control individuals. The CC genotype at -509C→T position was more prevalent in PE patients than in the control group. The mean serum TGF1 level was significantly higher (62.14 ng/ml) in PE patients compared with pregnant and non-pregnant control groups (and 47.01 and 40.68 ng/ml, respectively). In conclusion, the promoter region polymorphisms of TGF1 may not be associated with PE, but serum levels of this cytokine may contribute to the etiopathology of PE. © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Preeclampsia (PE) is pregnancy associated disorder with symptoms that include hypertension and proteinuria. Abbreviations: PE, pre-eclampsia; RSA, recurrent spontaneous abor- tion; RFLP, restriction fragment length polymorphism. ∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Immunology, Medical School, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Tel.: +98 9125084787; fax: +98 2122439970. E-mail addresses: taheripanahf@yahoo.com (R. Taheripanah), amanid@sums.ac.ir (D. Amani). It is responsible for substantial neonatal and maternal morbidity and mortality (Sibai et al., 2005). It occurs in 3–5% of pregnancies and is a major cause of maternal mortality in developed countries (Sibai et al., 2005; Khan et al., 2006). The common hypothesis about the etiology of PE has been focused on deviation of immune responses and a Type 1/Type 2 cytokine disequilibrium (Wilczyski et al., 2003; Matthiesena et al., 2005). Recent data show that the Th1/Th2 paradigm is now insufficient to explain immunology of normal pregnancy, and this paradigm has been expanded to include Th1/Th2/Th17 and regulatory T (Treg) cells (Saito et al., 2010). It is believed that delicate 0165-0378/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jri.2012.02.006