Systemic maternal immunity differs throughout gestation based on fetal sex

Abstract

s / Placenta 35 (2014) A1eA112 A60 P1.158. SYSTEMIC MATERNAL IMMUNITY DIFFERS THROUGHOUT GESTATION BASED ON FETAL SEX Douglas Creedon , Elizabeth Ann Enninga , Wendy Nevala , Svetomir Markovic , Shernan Holtan b Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA Objectives: There are many documented complications during pregnancy that have fetal sex disproportions. We tested whether the maternal immune milieu based on fetal sex contributes to these differences. Methods: Maternal blood samples were collected from fifty first time healthy women each month during pregnancy and at the postpartum visit. Cytokine, hormone and growth factor levels were assayed in the samples and fetal sex based differences assessed using Wilcoxon rank sum tests. Results: Mothers carrying a male fetus had high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines G-CSF, IL-12p70, IL-21 and IL-33 and pro-angiogenic factors PlGF and VEGF-A throughout gestation, while mothers carrying a female fetus had higher levels of chronic inflammatory cytokines IL-5, IL-9, IL-27 and IL-25 (p 0.001). Transcription factor analysis showed many upregulated proteins from male fetuses are controlled by c-Jun, NF-kB, SP1 and CREB1, while seemed to regulatemany of the factors that were increased in maternal serum with female fetuses are regulated by NFAT and STAT3. IL27 increased throughout gestation, dropping dramatically post-partum (p<0.001), but there was no difference based on fetal sex. Any sex based differences in factor levels were no longer apparent in the postpartum samples. Conclusions: Male fetuses are associated with a pro-inflammatory cytokine and pro-angiogenic markers in maternal serum while female fetuses are associated with chronic inflammatory serum markers. These findings serve as the basis for future mechanistic studies and give us a deeper understanding of fetal-maternal tolerance as related to fetal sex. P1.159. HUMAN DNK AND REGULATORY T CELLS COMMUNICATION IN THE FETAL-MATERNAL INTERFACE: A CELLULAR IDENTITY AND EXPLANATION OF PREECLAMPSIA Jianhong Zhang , Caroline E. Dunk , Rebecca L. Jones , Lynda K. Harris , Sarah Keating , Stephen J. Lye , Stephen J. Lye f a LunenfeldTanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada; Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; c Institute of Human Development, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; d St. Mary's Hospital, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK; Departments of Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Departments of Physiology, University of Toronto,