Study of inflammatory markers and TNF-? g308a and gene polymorphism in gestational diabetes mellitus

Introduction: The prevalence of Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is increasing world wide. It has been said that plasma levels of TNF-? is regulated by single nucleotide polymorphism in promoter region of TNF-? gene in development of GDM. The study was done to determine Tumor Necrosis Factor-? (TNF) levels and its gene Polymorphism in GDM cases and controls and to correlate them with each other. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 patients were selected comprising 30 diagnosed GDM cases and 30 apparently healthy pregnant women from ANC matched for age and gestation. OGTT was conducted and glucose estimated by GOD-POD method (Beckman AU-480 auto-analyzer) and serum TNF-? levels using sandwich ELISA. TNF-? 308(G/A) gene polymorphism was analyzed by extracting DNA from whole blood (using QIAGEN DNA mini kit) followed by DNA amplification by PCR and RFLP using restriction enzyme Nco1. Results: TNF-? levels were significantly increased in GDM cases (28.93±20.96 pg/ml) as compared to controls (19.4±11.6 pg/ml). TNF-? polymorphism revealed GG genotype in 87% cases and 93% controls; AA 3% of cases and 7% of controls and GA 10% of cases and absent in controls. However, the difference was statistically insignificant. TNF-? levels did not significantly correlate with the polymorphism. ROC analysis showed area under the curve of 0.613 for prediction of GDM. Conclusion: In GDM significant increase of TNF- ? levels signifies the role of inflammation in the etio-pathogenesis. The TNF-? G308A gene Polymorphism in particular is however not significantly associated with GDM.