Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a serious problem of pregnancy and its etiology is still unknown. The inheritance of preeclampsia is one of the theories regarding to the etiology of preeclampsia. Methylenetetrahydrofolatereductase (MTHFR) is a key enzyme in folate metabolism and the C677T polymorphism of the MTHFR gene is associated with decrease MTHFR activity, and therefore cause higher blood levels of homocysteine and leads to vascular disease that can be the reason of preeclampsia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism with PE development in south-west of Iran.

Materials and Methods: This case-control study was performed in 129 preeclamptic pregnant women and 125 control individuals.The C677T polymorphism of the MTHFR gene was determined by PCR-RFLP method.

Results: The CC, CT and TT genotypes frequency of C677T polymorphism of MTHFR gene were 57.4, 38.8 and 3.9 percent in preeclamptic women and 53.6, 40 and 6.4 percent in control group. They were not significantly different (p=0.614). However, the frequency of TT genotype was higher in control group (p=0.36). There was not any significant difference in T allele distribution between preeclamptic women (23.3%) and control group (26.4%).

Conclusion: Our results showed that there was not any correlation between the C677T polymorphism and PE but the TT genotype of C677T polymorphism seems to be a protective factor for preeclampsia.