Study backs genetic markers for early delivery risk :
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Pregnant women carrying specific interleukin-1 (IL-1) gene variations could be three times more likely to deliver pre-term babies than those without the variations, according to a US team. The IL-1 genetic factors produced a significant risk for pre-term delivery, independent of other risk factors such as smoking and age, said Amy Murtha of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who presented the findings at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in Miami earlier this month. San Antonio, Texas-based Interleukin Genetics which develops tests based on genetic factors that regulate control points in the inflammatory processes, said the gene variations in the study have previously been linked with an exaggerated inflammatory response.