Pancreatic Duodenal Homeobox Factor-1 (PDX-1) and Neurogenin-3 (NGN-3) in Gestational Diabetes

Introduction: Depletion of the ability of the cells ß to secrete the amount of insulin required by pregnancy, increasing the risk of develop Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). The aim was to contrast the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of the pancreatic duodenal homeobox factor-1 (PDX-1) and Neurogenin-3 (Ngn-3) in peripheral blood of pregnant women with GDM versus women with normal pregnancies. Material and methods: This was a prospective, clinical and cross-sectional study, conforming two groups of pregnant women: a) patients with a healthy gestation and b) patients with GDM. Besides anthropometry and routine laboratorial test, real-time polymerase chain reaction (Real-Time PCR), was used to quantify the expression of PDX-1 and NGN-3.