Analysis of the Potential Role of Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism in Genetic Predisposition to Spontaneous Abortion

Abstract

Our study suggests that APOE may not be associated with spontaneous abortions in Caucasians.

Apolipoprotein E (Apo E) gene polymorphisms and recurrent pregnancy loss: a meta-analysis

“…Therefore, some studies [2,16,17] have shown that the Apo E gene could be one of the risk factors for RPL, especially the high frequency of the Apo E4 genotype. Nevertheless, some other studies [1,[18][19][20] presented no significant association of Apo E polymorphisms with recurrent pregnancy loss. On the basis of this controversy, this meta-analysis was conducted with data published in recent years.…”

“…With thorough evaluation, 431 studies were excluded for inappropriate research, contents that were either not relevant or did not investigate related genes with recurrent pregnancy loss, 16 were retrieved which described the association between the Apo E polymorphism and RPL, and finally, 6 were eligible for meta-analysis [15,17,19,20,23,24]. One of the studies was excluded because the samples were not maternal blood, the tissue used was fetal tissue material [21]; five were excluded because they were presented as a "letter to the editor", meaning that the contents were controversial regarding the association between recurrent pregnancy loss and apolipoprotein E [14,16,[25][26][27]; three were not included because they did not present detailed genotyping information [2,18,28]; and another study was excluded because it concentrated on patients with endometriosis [29].…”

“…A few other studies [1,19,24] have analyzed the prevalence of the Apo E genotypes among the patients experiencing RPL, but all of them concluded that there was no association between Apo E polymorphisms and recurrent pregnancy loss. However, differences in patient selection have been suggested as possible reasons for the different outcomes.…”

Apolipoprotein E4 Allele in Subjects with COVID-19

“…All patients were confirmed SARS-CoV-2-negative by the time of sample collection in July 2020. For comparison purposes, we consulted APOE4+ genotype ( APOE4/E4 , APOE4/E3, and APOE4/E2 ) frequencies in a large population-based cohort from the Czech part of post-MONICA study ( N = 2,606; 53.6% females, mean age 48 ± 11 years, diabetes prevalence 8.2%, hypertension prevalence 22.3%) [ 5 ]. Information on COVID-19 status was not available for these subjects.…”

Interaction of apolipoprotein E gene polymorphisms on miscarriage risk in black and white American women

“…Zetterberg et al found that those embryos carrying APOE*4 were less frequently miscarried (35). However, this protective role of the APOE*4 allele during embryogenesis was not confirmed in a later work (36), which suggests that an embryo's APOE genotype may not be associated with spontaneous abortions.…”