Maternal Cytokine Production Patterns in Women with Pre‐eclampsia

Abstract

To determine the levels of cytokines produced upon mitogenic or antigenic stimulation of maternal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from women with pre-eclampsia. PBMC from 54 women with a history of successful pregnancy and 32 women undergoing pre-eclamptic delivery were stimulated with a mitogen or with autologous placental cells or with trophoblast antigens, and the levels of cytokines released into the culture supernatants then assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Significantly higher levels of the Th1 cytokines, interferon-gamma, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were produced by the pre-eclamptic group than by the normal pregnancy group, which on the contrary showed significantly greater production of the Th2 cytokines, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-6 and IL-10. A comparison of the ratios of Th2 to Th1 cytokines indicates a higher Th1 cytokine bias in pre-eclampsia as compared with normal pregnancy. These data are suggestive of a maternal pro-inflammatory cytokine bias in pre-eclampsia.