A Case Control Study on Serum Iron Profiling and HAMP Gene G71D Polymorphism in Women with Pre-Eclampsia and Gestationally matched Normotensive Women

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a crucial hypertensive complication of pregnancy, clearly associated with morbidity and mortality. Our aim was to investigate Hepcidin Anti-Microbial Peptide (HAMP) gene polymorphism (rs104894696) (G71D) and serum iron indices in PE patients and to compare with normal 3rd trimester pregnant women. The case-control study comprises of 85 PE patients (cases) and 85 normotensive pregnant women (controls). The baseline demographic and clinical data, including iron indices (Serum iron, TIBC, Ferritin, UIBC, % Transferrin Saturation, Hepcidin and Blood Hemoglobin) between the study groups, were compared. Polymorphism of the HAMP gene G71D (rs104894696) was studied (RFLP analysis) in both groups. The concentrations of iron indices were found to be abnormal in PE compared to the control. The AUROC analysis of hepcidin demonstrated a positive predictive value. The observed genotype distribution in cases was GG – 64 (75.3%) and GA – 21 (24.7%) while in controls it was GG – 79 (92.94%) and GA – 6 (7.06%). The Chi-square test value for these genotypes was 9.91 with a p-value of 0.00165, indicating a significant association of the G71D polymorphism. G71D mutation of the HAMP gene is significantly associated with PE and altered iron indices indicate prudent use of iron supplementation in pregnant women.