Variations in genes involved in DNA repair systems have been proposed as risk factors for the development of preeclampsia (PE). We conducted a case-control study to investigate the association of Human apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonuclease (APEX1) Asp148Glu (rs1130409), Xeroderma Pigmentosum group D (XPD) Lys751Gln (rs13181), X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC) Arg399Gln (rs25487) and X-ray repair cross-complementing group 3 (XRCC3) Thr241Met (rs861539) polymorphisms with PE in a Mexican population. Samples of 202 cases and 350 controls were genotyped using RTPCR. Association analyses based on a χ² test and binary logistic regression were performed to determine the odds ratio (OR) and a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for each polymorphism. The allelic frequencies of APEX1 Asp148Glu polymorphism showed statistical significant differences between preeclamptic and normal women (p = 0.036). Although neither of the polymorphisms proved to be a risk factor for the disease, the APEX1 Asp148Glu polymorphism showed a tendency of association (OR: 1.74, 95% CI = 0.96–3.14) and a significant trend (p for trend = 0.048). A subgroup analyses revealed differences in the allelic frequencies of APEX1 Asp148Glu polymorphism between women with mild preeclampsia and severe preeclampsia (p = 0.035). In conclusion, our results reveal no association between XPD Lys751Gln, XRCC Arg399Gln and XRCC3 Thr241Met polymorphisms and the risk of PE in a Mexican mestizo population; however, the results in the APEX1 Asp148Glu polymorphism suggest the need for future studies using a larger sample size.

Objective: To determine the usefulness of salivary cortisol as a predictor of preeclampsia in adolescents.Methods: We carried out a nested case- control study. Somatometric, clinical, and biochemical data were obtained from 100 healthy pregnant adolescents and salivary cortisol was measured at 8:00, 12:00, and 20:00 hours on twooccasions during pregnancy, before 20 weeks, and after 30 weeks of gestation. The cortisol values between the group of healthy pregnant women and the group that developed preeclampsia were compared by using the Student’s t, Mann-Whitney, and Wilcoxon tests. Also, the ROC curve of cortisol values and the Positive and Negative Predictive values of cortisol were estimated.Results: Values >14.9 nmol/L of cortisol were observed in the group that developed preeclampsia, providing a positive predictive value of 1 (100%). Values <10.1 nmol/L were observed in the control group, the negativepredictive value was 1 (100%). The cutoff point of the ROC curve -before 20 weeks of gestation- in the members of the cohort was 13.9 nmol/L.Conclusions: The salivary cortisol values observed in the two evaluations made to each of the groups showed statistically significant differences between the groups at 8 and 12 hours of the day. The values obtained enable establishing gradients that allow separating the group of healthy women that got ill with preeclampsia from the group that did not develop the illness before week 20. After week 30, the cortisol gradients are established more clearly in the group with preeclampsia and in the control group. The validation of these findings in larger samples would allowimplementing this procedure as a screening test for preeclampsia in groups of pregnant adolescents.