72] Measurement of interferon in human amniotic fluid and placental blood extract

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the measurement of interferon in human amniotic fluid and placental blood extract. The possible existence of constitutively synthesized interferons stems from observations that alpha interferon can be regularly detected at relatively low titers in human amniotic fluid from the sixteenth week of pregnancy. Interferons have also regularly been found in placental blood extracts or released by the human amniotic membrane when suspended in tissue culture medium between the thirty-seventh week and delivery. The exact site of their synthesis is presently unknown. Indirect arguments are in favor of the hypothesis that they are produced in the feto-maternal interface and secreted thereafter into the blood and amniotic fluid. The interferons detected during fetal life are of molecular size and antigenic structure somewhat different from those found in adult tissues or plasma. Interferons can be detected in the human amniotic membrane and placenta in a sufficiently high proportion of specimens to make the hypothesis of an externally induced origin unlikely. These interferons are highly heterogeneous in their molecular structure. Some resemble usually detected alpha and beta interferons. These interferons might play a role in the fetal development and/or the immune tolerance of the mother.