title: An association study of interleukin-4 gene and preeclampsia in Taiwan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test whether the interleukin-4 (IL-4) gene polymorphisms could be used as markers of susceptibility for preeclampsia in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 78 women with preeclampsia and 125 normal controls. A polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze the variable number of tandem repeats polymorphism for the IL-4 gene intron 3. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis using endonuclease BsmFI was performed for the IL-4 gene at the promoter -590 position. The association between the genotype and disease was examined using Chi-square tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found no significant differences in the genotype distributions and allele frequencies for the IL-4 gene at both promoter and intron 3 regions between the preeclampsia and control groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even though this is the first study investigating the association between the promoter region and intron 3 polymorphisms of IL-4 and preeclampsia worldwide, our data do not support a role of the IL-4 gene in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia in Taiwanese women.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of Orthopedics, Faculty of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Orthopedic Research Center, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chung-Hwan
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chen-Hsiang
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. Electronic address: ahsin@mail.ncku.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Chiung-Hsin
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. Electronic address: fchang@mail.ncku.edu.tw.
authors.forename: Fong-Ming
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000235:genetics*; D007438:Introns; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000235:genetics*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D015847:Interleukin-4
keywords: Taiwanese; interleukin-4 gene; polymorphism; preeclampsia