Publications by authors named "Stephanie A Mulherin Engel"
Vitamin C has been the focus of epidemiologic investigation in preterm delivery (<37 weeks' gestation), which is a leading cause of neonatal mortality and birth-related morbidity. There are two sodium-dependent membrane transporters encoded by SLC23A1 and SLC23A2, which have key roles in human vitamin C metabolism and which control dietary uptake, reabsorption, and tissue distribution of vitamin C. Using maternal DNA, the authors evaluated common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in SLC23A1 and SLC23A2 in a nested case-control analysis of the Pregnancy, Infection, and Nutrition Study (1995-2000) cohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Anti-inflammatory cytokines play a key role in pregnancy maintenance. Genetic variation in anti-inflammatory cytokines could influence a woman's risk of adverse reproductive outcomes.
Methods: We investigated the relationship of polymorphisms in interleukin 4 (IL4), IL5, IL10, IL13, and transforming growth factor (TGFbeta1) with spontaneous preterm birth and small-for-gestational age (SGA) in a nested case-control study of a prospective pregnancy cohort.
Background: Preliminary data suggest that common genetic variation in immune response genes can contribute to the risk for spontaneous preterm birth and possibly small-for-gestational age (SGA).
Methods: We investigated the relationship of polymorphisms in 6 cytokine genes associated with inflammation-interleukin (IL)1alpha, IL1beta, IL2, IL6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and lymphotoxin alpha (LTA)-with spontaneous preterm and SGA birth in a nested case-control study drawn from a prospective pregnancy cohort. Women were recruited between 24 and 29 weeks' gestation at the Wake County and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill obstetric clinics between February 1996 and June 2000.