Preeclampsia (PE) is a severe hypertensive pathology and affects 2-8% of pregnancies worldwide. Its etiopathogenesis is poorly understood, and prognostic biomarkers and effective treatments are unavailable for this pregnancy complication, determining the high rates of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Racial and ethnic differences in PE incidence are of interest to study in terms of evolutionary medicine because such variability can be considered as a side effect of adaptive changes that have occurred in the genetic structure of modern populations since the dispersal of Homo sapiens from Africa. Genetic diversity at 10 regulatory single nucleotide polymorphisms (rSNPs) associated with PE was studied in North Eurasian populations and world populations of the 1000 Genomes Project. The role of natural selection in the formation of this genetic diversity was assessed at the microevolutionary level. High interpopulation diversity was observed with the greatest contribution being made by allele frequencies of NDRG1 rs3802252 (FST = 0.157). Signatures of natural selection were detected for rs10423795 of LHB, rs2167270 of LEP, rs2227262 and rs3802252 of NDRG1, rs56153523 and rs8109071 of SYDE1, and rs72959687 of INHA. The results are consistent with two evolutionary hypotheses of PE, namely, those of ancestral susceptibility and genetic conflicts.
Keywords: differentially expressed genes; genetic diversity; human populations; natural selection; preeclampsia; regulatory single nucleotide polymorphisms.