Also included in: Hypertension; Genetics
Article Date: 16 April 2012 - 0: 00 PDT
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Researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine have discovered that changes in the expression of a key enzyme gene may contribute to high blood pressure and increase the risk of clots of blood in women pregnant with pre-eclampsia.
These results could provide clues on the best approaches for treatment of high blood pressure and the formation of blood clots that can block blood flow to the internal organs of the pregnant woman and lead to the failure of an organ.
Researchers are working to determine the cause of preeclampsia at the molecular level and have now identified that the epigenetic mechanisms may be at stake. Epigenetics refers to changes in the expression of genes that are mediated by mechanisms other than changes in the DNA sequence.
In a study published online in Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart Association, LCA team indicated that thromboxane synthase - an important inflammatory enzyme - is increased in the blood vessels of the speakers with preeclampsia. Thromboxane synthase gene codes for the enzyme, which is involved in several processes, including stroke and cardiovascular disease. This enzyme causes the synthesis of thromboxane, which increases blood pressure and causes the formation of blood clots.
"This work is unique because it opens a new concept as the cause and the subsequent consequences of pre-eclampsia related to epigenetics," said author Scott w. Walsh, Ph.d., Professor, Department of obstetrics and Gynecology LCA. "This is the first study to show that epigenetic alterations in the blood vessels of the mother are related to pre-eclampsia."
According to Walsh, one of the major epigenetic mechanisms is DNA methylation, which controls the expression of genes. The increase of this enzyme in the blood vessels is linked to reduced DNA methylation and infiltration of neutrophils in the blood vessels. Neutrophils are white blood cells that normally help to fight infection.
In the future, Walsh said that some potential treatments for pre-eclampsia can include inhibition of thromboxane synthase, blocking of the thromboxane receptor or food folate supplementation. He said that folate supplementation may increase methylation donors to protect themselves against adverse changes in the methylation of DNA that affect the expression of the thromboxane synthase enzyme.
This study builds on the work already published by the LCA team appearing in the issue of November 2011, high blood pressure and in the issue of January 2011 in the American Journal of Pathology and have demonstrated an important role for neutrophil as responsible agents of arterial hypertension in pre-eclampsia.
Article adapted by Medical News Today news release original. Click on "References" tab over the source.Visit our pregnancy / obstetrics section for the latest news on this subject. Read the here.http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2012/04/09/HYPERTENSIONAHA.111.188730.full.pdf?ijkey=eUaz9fAKAoHea1F&keytype=ref of the study
This work has been supported by grants from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Center on minority health and health disparities
Walsh has collaborated with graduate student Ahmad a. Mousa, Ph.d., in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and Jerome f. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.d., Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of LCA.
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April 22, 2012.
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"Preeclampsia can be explained by changes in the Expression of the genes in the course of pregnancy"
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