Resumen:
Gestational diabetes mellitus (DMG) is a condition characterized by the increment of glucose concentrations in blood during pregnancy. DMG and diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) share part of their physiopathology and some shared genetic factors have been identified, such as altered expression the PDX-1 and NGN-3 genes that are involved in the pancreatic beta cell failure associated with an insulin resistant state, morphologic alterations in the pancreas and deficiencies with the insulin production and glucose management in glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity statuses. In Mexico the DMG prevalence rates are unknown, however DMG has been identified as a secondary cause of maternal mortality, which has a heterogeneous distribution in the Mexican Republic and in certain regions there are high maternal mortality rates. On a global scale, DMG prevalence is heterogeneously distributed and it varies among the different ethnic groups due to genetic and epigenetic factors. This study utilized molecular methods to extract RNA from blood samples and amplifying them with the polymerase chain reaction with a retrotranscriptase enzyme to obtain complementary DNA (cDNA) and along with the Western Blot technique, analyzed the expression of the genes of interest in patients with DMG during their pregnancy, as well as to compare the results with those of patients with a normal pregnancy, in the Maternal and Perinatal Hospital “Mónica Pretelini Saénz” (HMPMPS) in Toluca, Mexico. Data was obtained from 38 patients of which 22 belonged to the control group and 16 to the experimental group, the mean age was of 29.00 ± 7.74 years. Using the ΔΔCt method the expression fold change for PDX-1 was 0.458 and for NGN-3 it was 0.361. In the correlation analysis there was a statistically significant correlation between the expression values of both genes in both groups. The multiple regression was significant for both genes expression and glucose levels in case of having normal weight. Conclusion: PDX-1 and NGN-3 low serum expression could be predictors of higher glucose levels.