The significance of mitochondrial haplogroups in preeclampsia risk

Objective To determine whether mitochondrial haplogroups function as disease-modifiers or as susceptibility factors in preeclampsia using a traditional haplogroup association model. Methods This retrospective study haplotyped 235 control and 78 preeclamptic pregnancies from Denmark using either real-time PCR or Sanger sequencing depending on the rarity of the haplogroup. Results No significant association between haplogroups and the risk of preeclampsia was found, nor was any role for haplogroups in disease severity uncovered. Conclusion Mitochondrial haplogroups are not associated with preeclampsia or the severity of preeclampsia in the Danish population. However, this study cannot exclude a role for less common mtDNA variation. Models that can examine these should be applied in preeclamptic patients.