The significance of mitochondrial haplogroups in preeclampsia risk

Objective: To determine whether mitochondrial haplogroups function as disease-modifiers or as susceptibility factors in preeclampsia using a traditional haplogroup association model. Methods: This retrospective study haplotyped 235 control and 78 preeclamptic pregnancies from Denmark using either real-time PCR or Sanger sequencing depending on the rarity of the haplogroup. Results: No significant association between haplogroups and the risk of preeclampsia was found, nor was any role for haplogroups in disease severity uncovered. Conclusion: Mitochondrial haplogroups are not associated with preeclampsia or the severity of preeclampsia in the Danish population. However, this study cannot exclude a role for less common mtDNA variation. Models that can examine these should be applied in preeclamptic patients. © 2023 The Authors