A Study of Adenylate Kinase Locus 1 (Ak1) Genetic Polymorphism in Diabetic Pregnancy

BACKGROUND Previous studies suggest that adenylate kinase locus 1 (Ak 1 ) has an important role in the control of blood glucose level and in the glycation of structural and functional proteins in type 2 diabetes and in the balanced development of feto-placental unit in healthy puerperae (HP). In this study, an attempt was made to investigate the relationship of Ak 1 with maternal and neonatal parameters in puerperae with gestational diabetes (GDP) and with preexisting type 1 diabetes (T1DP). METHODS This study was carried on 402 HP, 347 consecutive healthy newborns, 102 GDP and 111 T1DP with their newborn infants. Ak 1 phenotype was determined by starch gel electrophoresis. Chi-square test of independence was carried out by SPSS program. The analysis of three way contingency table was carried out by a loglinear model. Significant level was 0.05. RESULTS In T1DP, the frequency of Ak 1 *2 allele was higher than in GDP and in HP. Serum glucose level was higher in T1DP than in GDP with higher values in carriers of Ak 1 *2 allele. Neonatal hypoglycemia was more frequent in T1DP than in GDP with a positive association with Ak 1 *2 allele. The correlation between birth weight (BW) and placental weight (PW) was lower in infants from T1DP than HP. In healthy puerperae the correlation is higher in Ak 1 2-1 than in Ak 1 1 phenotype while in diabetic puerperae the pattern is reversed with lower values in Ak 1 2-1 than in Ak 1 1 phenotype. The lowest value of correlation is observed in infants from T1D mothers carrying the Ak 1 *2 allele. CONCLUSION The data confirmed the involvement of Ak 1 in glucose metabolism and showed a disturbance of the balance between placental and fetal growth which was more marked in T1DP.