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

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, TNFalpha and IFNgamma 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 IFNgamma: 8.4 +/- 5.3 pg/ml vs. 4.2 +/- 3.2 pg/ml (p = 0.02), TNFalpha: 1.5 +/- 0.7 pg/ml vs. 0.7 +/- 0.3 pg/ml (p = 0.04) and IL-2: 1.3-0.6 pg/ml vs. 0.6 +/- 0.4 pg/ml (p = 0.01) in the studied group. The level of IL-6 35.5 +/- 21.0 pg/ml vs. 19.8 +/- 12.3 pg/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 (IFNgamma, 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 TNFalpha and IL-6.