Levels of immunoreactive cytokines in serum of women with preeclampsia or severe pregnancy hypertension

Abstract

Abstract Objective: The purpose of the study was to compare concentrations of inflammatory and Th1/Th2 cytokines in serum obtained from women with preeclampsia or severe pregnancy hypertension versus normotensive controls. Material and methods: The study group consisted of 34 pregnant women with hypertension over 140/90mmHg and proteinuria over 0,3 g/day or severe pregnancy hypertension. 16 healthy pregnant women comprised the control group. The concentration of IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNFα and IFNγ was measured with Cytometric Bead Array Human Th1/Th2 Cytokine Kit II (Becton Dickinson). U-Mann Whitney test was used for the comparison of the results. Results: We found statistically significantly increased concentrations of IFNγ: 8.4+/-5.3pg/ml vs. 4.2+/-3.2pg/ml (p=0.02), TNFα: 1.5+/-0,7pg/ml vs. 0.7+/-0.3pg/ml (p=0,04) and IL-2: 1.3+/-0.6pg/ml vs. 0.6+/-0.4pg/ml (p=0.01) in the studied group. The level of IL-6 35.5+/-21.0pg/ml vs. 19.8+/-12.3pg/ml was also increased but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Concentrations of IL-4 and IL-10 were similar in both groups. Conclusion: Increased concentrations of Th1 cytokines (IFNγ, IL-2) in the serum of women with preeclampsia suggests an exaggerated cytotoxic activity of blood in this pathology, accompanied by an increase in the levels of inflammatory cytokines TNFα and IL-6.