OBJECTIVETo investigate the level of hypermethylated ras association domain family 1A (RASSF1A) gene in maternal plasma of pre-eclampsia and its clinical value.

METHODSSixty pre-eclampsia women including 30 mild and 30 severe cases were selected, 60 women with normal pregnancy were studied as control. Free DNA from plasma samples was extracted, fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR) was used to detect the concentrations of RASSF1A gene before and after methylation-sensitive restriction digestion. Meanwhile, beta-actin gene was detected as a control to confirm complete enzyme digestion.

RESULTSThe median concentration of hypermethylated RASSF1A gene was 3.31-fold higher in samples from pre-eclamptic pregnancies than that in controls. There was significant difference between the mild and severe pre-eclamptic subjects (P<0.05), with the median concentrations of 1659 copies/mL and 2036.50 copies/mL, respectively.

CONCLUSIONHypermethylated RASSF1A gene in pre-eclampsia plasma was significantly increased and the concentrations were related to the severity of pre-eclampsia.