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ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION |
1 From the Department of Neurology, University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ (WGJ, JRS, and ESS); the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey, School of Osteopathic Medicine, Camden, NJ (TOS and XC); and the Department of Statistics and Genetics, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ (SB)
2 Supported by NIH grants NS 44224, HD 18269, and HD 38329.
3 Address reprint requests to WG Johnson, UBHC Room D431, 671 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854. E-mail: wjohnson{at}umdnj.edu
| ABSTRACT |
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Objective: We aimed to determine whether a common, recently discovered deletion polymorphism in the DHFR gene is a risk factor for preterm delivery or low birth weight.
Design: We studied 324 pregnant women from Camden, NJ. Folate intake was computed from folate supplement intake plus the mean of two 24-h recalls completed during the course of pregnancy. Genomic DNA was extracted from the womens leukocytes and genotyped.
Results: Women with a deletion allele had a significantly greater risk of preterm delivery [adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 3.0; 95% CI: 1.0, 8.8; P < 0.05] than did those without a deletion allele. Women with both a DHFR deletion allele and low folate intake (<400 µg/d from diet plus supplements) had a significantly greater risk of preterm delivery (AOR: 5.5; 95% CI: 1.5, 20.4; P = 0.01) and a significantly greater risk of having an infant with a low birth weight (AOR: 8.3; 95% CI: 1.8, 38.6; P = 0.01) than did women without a deletion allele and with a folate intake
400 µg/d.
Conclusions: The DHFR 19base pair deletion allele may be a risk factor for preterm delivery. In the presence of low dietary folate, the allele may also be a risk factor for low birth weight. This may be a gene-environment interaction.
Key Words: Folate dihydrofolate reductase preterm delivery low birth weight polymorphism
| INTRODUCTION |
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We recently discovered a polymorphic 19base pair (bp) deletion within intron I of DHFR (6). Intron 1 is a well known site of regulatory sequences for some genes (7, 8), and a regulatory sequence for intron 1 has been documented for human (9, 10) and mouse (11) TYMS, a gene closely related to DHFR. Moreover, the mouse dhfr gene contains an intron 1 regulatory sequence (12). Because the 19-bp deletion of human DHFR removes a potential SP1 transcription factor binding site, it is possible that this new polymorphism acts to decrease DHFR transcription and decrease folate availability to the fetus. Moreover, amounts of DHFR protein in CHO cells were significantly higher in the presence of intron 1, and when the intron was deleted, the protein produced was unstable (13). We therefore tested the possibility that this recently discovered DHFR 19-bp deletion allele (6) in the mother might contribute to adverse pregnancy outcome.
| SUBJECTS AND METHODS |
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18 y) and more mature (aged 1929 y) women who have enrolled for prenatal care in Camden clinics. Pregnant women with serious nonobstetric problems (eg, lupus, chronic hypertension, type 1 or type 2 diabetes, seizure disorders, malignancies, or drug or alcohol abuse) are not eligible. In this analysis, we focus on data from 324 women who enrolled and delivered before September 1990. That date precedes the Food and Drug Administrations authorization of the addition of folic acid to grains in 1996 with mandatory compliance by January 1998 (15). All participants gave informed consent. This project was approved by the University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jerseys Institutional Review Boards. Socioeconomic, demographic, lifestyle, and dietary data were obtained by interview at entry to prenatal care and were updated at week 28 of gestation. Ethnicity was self-identified as African American (n = 104), Hispanic (Puerto Rican descent; n = 213), or white (n = 7). Pregravid weight was determined by recall at entry to prenatal care, and weight was measured at each visit with the use of a beam balance scale. In the Camden study, the correlation between measured weight in the second trimester of pregnancy and recalled pregravid weight is fairly strong (r > 0.9) (16). Recorded and recalled weights are generally well correlated (r = 0.750.98), with the caveat that women with higher body weights tend to underreport their weight (17, 18). Height was measured at entry to prenatal care with the use of a stadiometer. Body mass index (BMI) was computed as pregravid weight divided by height squared (in kg/m2). Total gestational weight gain was calculated as the difference between reported pregravid weight and weight measured within the 2 wk before delivery.
Information on current and past pregnancy outcomes, complications, and infant abnormalities was abstracted from the prenatal record, the delivery record, delivery logbooks, and the infants chart. Gestational duration was based on the womans last normal menstrual period and was confirmed or modified by ultrasound. Preterm delivery (PTD) was defined as delivery at <37 completed weeks of gestation. Low birth weight (LBW) was defined as birth weight < 2500 g.
Information on dietary intake (three 24-h recalls completed during pregnancy) and prenatal multivitamin use was obtained by a registered dietitian experienced in working with this population. Food models were used with the 24-h recalls to quantify portion size; dietary probes (eg, if milk was consumed or used in coffee or tea, whether it was whole milk, 2%-fat milk, 1%-fat milk, or skim milk) were used to further refine intake measures. Data were processed at the Campbell Institute of Research and Technology in Camden, NJ. Campbells nutrition composition database was derived chiefly from the US Department of Agriculture National Nutrient Database (Internet: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/) with some additional input from the US Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrient Database for Dietary Studies, 1.0 (Internet: http://www.barc.usda.gov/bhnrc/foodsurvey/fndds_intro.html), industry sources, and Campbells internal analyses. To avoid any confounding between changes in intake and gestational duration, data on folate intake were based on diet and supplement use recorded in the first 2 recalls: at entry to care and at 28 wk gestation. Average daily folate intake by week 28 was computed from the mean of the first 2 recalls taken during pregnancy (entry and week 28) and from the frequency of prenatal multivitamin-mineral supplement use (pills per day) between the mothers last menstrual period and week 28. Prenatal multivitamins containing folate (usually 800 µg/d in 19851990) were prescribed and used after the women entered prenatal care, which occurred at 19.9 ± 7 wk; only 13.3% of the women used supplements of any kind before then. During pregnancy, 30% of the women never used the multivitamin supplements that had been prescribed and an additional 10% used them sporadically. Folate intake was assessed as a percentage of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) in effect in 1990, when the RDA for pregnancy was 400 µg/d (19). We characterized folate intake from diet and supplements as low (<400 µg/d) or not low (
400 µg/d) according to this recommendation.
Sample acquisition and preparation
Maternal white cells were prepared from samples obtained at entry to care, and buffy coat leukocytes were harvested. Genomic DNA was extracted from the subjects leukocytes by using the QIAamp DNA blood kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA).
DHFR 19-bp deletion polymorphism in intron 1
The deletion and nondeletion alleles form a polymorphic system. Portions of these alleles are shown in Figure 1
. The A at the 3' end of the deletion segment of the nondeletion allele was reported in one previous study (20) of the DHFR gene (GenBank accession #X00855) but was missing in another (21) (GenBank accession #K01612).
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Data analysis
Logistic regression was used to examine the effect of the presence or absence of a deletion allele on the outcomes of interest, with control for potential confounding variables (age, parity, ethnicity, smoking, and BMI). Separate models were fit for each outcome of interest by using multiple logistic regression analysis. In logistic regression models, we also examined the interaction between maternal genotype and folate intake for diet and supplements per the prevailing RDA for pregnant women. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and their 95% CIs were computed from the logistic regression coefficients and their corresponding covariance matrices (22). Chi-square tests, unadjusted odds ratios (ORs), and analysis of variance also were used to compare unadjusted data by maternal genotype. All computations were done with SAS version 8.0 (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC).
| RESULTS |
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15 y, n = 72; 1617 y, n = 55; 1819 y, n = 111; 2023 y, n = 54; 2427 y, n = 22; and >27 y, n = 10.
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| DISCUSSION |
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80% of the Camden women in our sample carried the allele (Table 2
The findings also raise the possibility that even women with folate intakes >400 µg/d may be at higher risk of PTD and LBW if they carry the deletion allele, a situation that is more likely to be seen with wider use of folate supplements and with food folate fortification. For women with the deletion allele and without low folate intake, the adjusted odds ratios for PTD and LBW, though not significant, were increased 2-fold and >3-fold, respectively (Tables 3
and 4
). With a larger study, the DHFR 19-bp deletion allele may be a risk factor for LBW also; we detected such a trend in the current study (P = 0.07; Table 2
).
Our data on dietary folate intake and multivitamin use are consistent with data from the second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES II) and the National Natality Survey for a similar time period. In NHANES II, dietary intake was 185 ± 6.2 µg folate/d (median: 154 µg/d) for black women and 210 ± 3.0 µg folate/d (median: 171 µg/d) for white women. About 28% of black women and 18% of white women had folate intakes between 0 and 100 µg/d (23). Use of multivitamins before (14%) and during (65%) pregnancy was likewise uncommon, particularly among those women with characteristics that most resembled the Camden pregnant women: young, black, and unmarried with limited educational attainment (24). In the United States, it is now recommended that women consume 600 µg folic acid/d during pregnancy; this includes 400 µg of synthetic folic acid from supplements or fortified cereals. Unfortunately, even now, less than one-third of women of childbearing age do so (25). Thus, our expectation is that the association of the DHFR deletion allele with poor pregnancy outcome may be demonstrable with the folate fortification of the US food supply now in effect.
If the DHFR 19-bp deletion allele interferes with the flow of reduced folate from the mother to the fetus, it could work in concert with the elevated ferritin concentrations seen late in pregnancy that are one of the best biomarkers for an increased risk of PTD (26). High maternal concentrations of ferritin are also associated with lower serum and red cell folate (26). Ferritin elevation could contribute to these lower serum and red cell folate concentrations and to PTD by increasing the rate of folate catabolism (27). In the future, controlled clinical trials might be considered for women at high risk of PTD and LBW with a higher dose of a folic acid supplement or with a form of folate that does not require reduction by DHFR.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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WGJ and TOS designed the experiments and wrote the manuscript. TOS and XC collected the participants and samples. WGJ, ESS, and JRS designed the genotyping system. JRS and ESS carried out the genotyping in a blinded fashion. ESS and XC carried out data management. TOS, SB, and XC carried out data analysis. All authors reviewed, criticized, and revised the manuscript and none had any conflict of interest.
| REFERENCES |
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