Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg levels in umbilical cord blood in preeclampsia

Introduction: Preeclampsia is one of the major causes of maternal and neonatal mortality. During pregnancy, the immune system must maintain the tolerance to the fetus, thus changes in the cytokine balance may result in a disturbed pregnancy. T helper cells play an important role in modulation of the immune system and are involved in this cytokine balance. Objective: Many studies have been performed to study the T cell composition in different compartments during pregnancy, although this is the first study in which T cells are evaluated in umbilical cord blood. Study design: Intracellular expression of INF-gamma, IL-17, IL-4 and forkhead foxP3 in CD4+ T cells was evaluated in umbilical blood from healthy pregnant and preeclamptic women using a flow cytometer. Results: Th2 and Treg cells levels were significantly diminished in preeclamptic compared to the healthy women, but no difference in Th1 and Th17 levels were found between both groups. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the cytokine balance is broken, encouraging the development of an exacerbated inflammatory response. Our results show that there is a shift, in the Th1/Th2, and the Th17/Treg balance, favoring skewness towards a proinflammatory status in the umbilical cord blood in preeclampsia.