Association of angiogenic factors (placental growth factor and soluble FMS-like tyrosine kinase-1) in preeclamptic women of African ancestry comorbid with HIV infection

Abstract Background Preeclampsia is a significant cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality, particularly in low- and middle-income countries like South Africa. Aim The aim of our study was to investigate the association between placental growth factor (PlGF) and soluble FMS-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1) in South African preeclamptic women of African ancestry, comorbid with HIV infection. Methods The study population consisted of women attending a regional hospital in Durban, South Africa, stratified by pregnancy type (normotensive pregnant and preeclampsia) and HIV status. Preeclampsia was defined as new-onset hypertension and proteinuria. DNA was obtained from whole blood. The SNPs of interest were rs722503 in sFlt-1 and rs4903273 in PlGF. Results Our findings suggest that single nucleotide polymorphisms of rs722503 analysis show no significant associations between the genotypic frequencies of rs722503 variants and preeclampsia risk in either HIV-negative or HIV-positive groups of women of African ancestry. Similarly, the rs493273 polymorphism showed no significant association with preeclampsia risk in either HIV-negative or HIV-positive pregnant women. Additionally, comparisons of dominant, recessive, and over-dominant allele models did not reveal significant associations. These findings suggest that these genetic variants may not significantly contribute to preeclampsia development in this African ancestry population. However, significant differences were observed in the rs4903273 genotype frequencies between normotensive and preeclamptic women, regardless of HIV status, over dominant alleles AA + GG vs AG showed a significant difference OR = 2.706; 95% Cl (1.199–5.979); adjusted p = 0.0234*, also in normotensive compared to EOPE (OR = 2.804; 95% Cl (1.151–6.89) p = 0.0326* and LOPE (OR = 2.601; 95% Cl (1.0310–6.539) p = 0.0492*), suggesting that they may be the potential role of this variant in preeclampsia susceptibility. Conclusion The findings suggest that the rs722503 and rs493273 polymorphisms do not significantly contribute to preeclampsia susceptibility in HIV-negative or HIV-positive pregnant women. However, the rs4903273 genotype frequencies showed notable differences between normotensive and preeclamptic women, indicating a potential association with preeclampsia development in the African ancestry population irrespective of HIV status.