Genetic variants in fibrinolytic system-related genes in infertile women with and without endometriosis.

AIMS

The aim of this study was to evaluate urokinase-type plasminogen activator gene (uPA) and thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor gene (TAFI) genotypes in a group of infertile women with and/or without endometriosis and controls.

METHODS

A case-control study comprising 180 infertile women with endometriosis, 68 women with idiopathic infertility, and 152 fertile women as controls was carried out. Detection of uPA (C422T/rs2227564) and TAFI (G438A/rs2146881) polymorphisms was performed by TaqMan polymerase chain reaction. The results were statistically analyzed and a p-value of <0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

We found no association among both uPA or TAFI polymorphisms and endometriosis-related infertility (p=0.920 and p=0.356, respectively) or idiopathic infertility (p=0.502 and p=0.392, respectively) comparing to controls, even considering minimal/mild and moderate/severe endometriosis separately. Both uPA and TAFI polymorphisms were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for all studied groups. The combinatory analysis of both uPA and TAFI polymorphisms to endometriosis-related infertility, idiopathic infertility, and control group showed no statistical difference to any combination.

CONCLUSION

The data suggest that, in the Brazilian population, genetic variations in both uPA and TAFI were not relevant to endometriosis and/or infertility.