Spontaneous preterm birth: advances toward the discovery of genetic predisposition.

ABSTRACT: Evidence from family and twin-based studies provide strong support for a significant contribution of maternal and fetal genetics to the timing of parturition and spontaneous preterm birth. However, there has been only modest success in the discovery of genes predisposing to preterm birth, despite increasing sophistication of genetic and genomic technology. In contrast, DNA variants associated with other traits/diseases have been identified. For example, there is overwhelming evidence that suggests that the nature and intensity of an inflammatory response in adults and children are under genetic control. Because inflammation is often invoked as an etiologic factor in spontaneous preterm birth, the question of whether spontaneous preterm birth has a genetic predisposition in the case of path

SUBMITTER: Strauss JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5834399 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature