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Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology
Published in: Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 1/2018

Open Access 01-12-2018 | Research

Cytokines in relation to hCG are significantly altered in asymptomatic women with miscarriage – a pilot study

Authors: Alexander Freis, Janina Schlegel, Volker Daniel, Julia Jauckus, Thomas Strowitzki, Ariane Germeyer

Published in: Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology | Issue 1/2018

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Abstract

Background

Spontaneous abortion is one of the most common complications in early pregnancy. A preventive test to identify women who will experience a miscarriage, even before first symptoms occur, is not established. Activation of maternal immunological tolerance seems to be essential for early fetal development and various cytokines have been described in different stages of pregnancy. Therefore, we aimed to investigate if chemokine levels at the time of pregnancy testing relative to human Choriogonadotropin (hCG) are altered in patients who will experience a miscarriage in this pregnancy.

Methods

We obtained blood samples from 39 women. Dependent on the follow-up, patients with a positive pregnancy test were subsequently divided in two groups: ongoing pregnancy (n = 22) and miscarriage (n = 17) in this pregnancy. Immunological and endocrine profiling of maternal plasma at the time of pregnancy testing (5th week of gestation) was performed for each group at the time of pregnancy test using Multiplex and ELISA analysis.

Results

hCG was significantly decreased in patients with abortion whereas levels of IL-1ra, MIP-1a and TNF-alpha were significantly increased. GCSF/ IL-1ra-ratio was 1.66-fold increased in patients with ongoing pregnancy. TGF-beta /MIP1a-ratio was significantly 3.45-times higher in patients with miscarriage. Comparing patients with ongoing pregnancy to patients experiencing a miscarriage, we could demonstrate significant alterations of the ratios MIP1a/hCG, IL-1ra/hCG, TNFalpha/hCG, MCP1/hCG, IL-6/hCG, TPO/hCG and TGF-beta1/hCG. The strongest effects were seen for the ratio MIP1a/hCG, IL-1ra/hCG and TNFalpha/hCG.

Conclusions

We have shown that cytokines in relation to hCG after 4 weeks of gestation are significantly altered in women with miscarriage, promising potential as a prognostic biomarker.
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Metadata
Title
Cytokines in relation to hCG are significantly altered in asymptomatic women with miscarriage – a pilot study
Authors
Alexander Freis
Janina Schlegel
Volker Daniel
Julia Jauckus
Thomas Strowitzki
Ariane Germeyer
Publication date
01-12-2018
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology / Issue 1/2018
Electronic ISSN: 1477-7827
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12958-018-0411-5

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