Circulating immune complexes and hypertension in pregnancy.

Eighteen patients with pre-eclampsia, 10 patients with essential and 9 with transient hypertension during pregnancy, were investigated regarding circulating immune complexes by a Clq-binding assay and a PEG precipitation assay. The women were studied during pregnancy, 2 and 5 days after childbirth, and also 3 and 6 months afterwards. The frequency of circulating immune complexes was not significantly increased in any of the groups when compared with that in 18 normotensive pregnant control subjects and 19 non-pregnant controls. Thus Clq-binding and PEG-precipitable immune complexes are a feature neither of normal pregnancy, nor of pregnancy complicated by hypertension or pre-eclampsia.