S-carboxymethylcysteine inhibits the attachment of Streptococcus pneumoniae to human pharyngeal epithelial cells, adult, article, cheek, chi square test, controlled study, DNA extraction, female, human, human cell, hypothesis, major clinical study, pathogenesis, polymerase chain reaction, preeclampsia, priority journal, statistical significance, X chromosome inactivation, Adult, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pre-Eclampsia, Pregnancy, X Chromosome Inactivation Medline is the source for the MeSH terms of this document

Cataloged from PDF version of article. Pre-eclampsia is a disorder that affects approximately 5% of pregnancies. We tested the hypothesis that skewed X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) could be involved in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. Peripheral blood DNA was obtained from 67 pre-eclampsia patients and 130 control women. Androgen receptor (AR) was analyzed by the Hpa II/polymerase chain reaction assay to assess XCI patterns in DNA extracted from peripheral-blood cells. In addition, buccal cells were obtained from seven patients, and the analysis repeated. Extremely skewed XCI was observed in 10 of 46 informative patients (21.74%), and in 2 of 86 informative controls (2.33%, P = 0.0005; χ2 test). Our findings support a role for the X-chromosome in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia in a subgroup of patients. © Springer-Verlag 2006.