Angiopoietin-2 1087G > A rs3020221 gene polymorphism is associated with in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer outcome

In in vitro fertilization (IVF) the eggs are fertilized in the laboratory. The success of IVF depends on the angiogenesis. Angiopoetin-2 (ANGPT2) plays a critical role in angiogenesis and acts as a natural antagonist of the endothelial cell–specific receptor tyrosine kinase (Tie-2). A functional single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the ANGPT2 1087 G > A gene is known to influence in the gene expression in an allele-specific manner. The aim of this project was to study the effect of angiopoietin-2 gene polymorphism on in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) in Iran. The prevalence of G/A substitution in exon 4 was determined in 160 infertile patients enrolled who had unsuccessful IVF history and 160 control subjects who had successful IVF history. The genomic DNA was extracted from the whole blood using DNA extraction techniques. Genotype of ANGPT2 1087 G > A was performed using Allele - specific polymerase chain reaction (AS-PCR). The genotype frequencies of GG, AG and AA in the IVF negative were 7.5%, 67.5% and 25%, respectively and in the IVF positive were 15%, 77.5% and 7.5%, respectively. The allele frequencies of G, A in the IVF negative were 41.2%, 58.8%, respectively and in IVF positive were 53.8%, 46.2%, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that there is a significant correlation in the genotype between two groups (OR = 4.11, 95% CI = 2.065–8.18, P = 0.0001). It is concluded that ANGPT2 G/A polymorphism is associated with IVF-ET outcome in a population in the north of Iran.