1. Cellular immune responses in amniotic fluid of women with preterm prelabor rupture of membranes.
- Author
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Galaz, Jose, Romero, Roberto, Slutsky, Rebecca, Xu, Yi, Motomura, Kenichiro, Para, Robert, Pacora, Percy, Panaitescu, Bogdan, Hsu, Chaur-Dong, Kacerovsky, Marian, and Gomez-Lopez, Nardhy
- Subjects
AMNIOTIC liquid ,CELLULAR immunity ,FLOW cytometry ,PREMATURE infants ,INTERLEUKINS ,PREMATURE labor ,LEUCOCYTES ,MACROPHAGES ,MONOCYTES ,NEUTROPHILS ,PREGNANCY complications ,T cells ,WOMEN'S health ,PHENOTYPES - Abstract
Background: Preterm birth is the leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (pPROM) occurs in 30% of preterm births; thus, this complication is a major contributor to maternal and neonatal morbidity. However, the cellular immune responses in amniotic fluid of women with pPROM have not been investigated. Methods: Amniotic fluid samples were obtained from women with pPROM and a positive (n = 7) or negative (n = 10) microbiological culture. Flow cytometry was performed to evaluate the phenotype and number of amniotic fluid leukocytes. The correlation between amniotic fluid immune cells and an interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentration or a white blood cell (WBC) count in amniotic fluid was calculated. Results: Women with pPROM and a positive amniotic fluid culture had (1) a greater number of total leukocytes in amniotic fluid, including neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages and (2) an increased number of total T cells in amniotic fluid, namely CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells, but not B cells. The numbers of neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages were positively correlated with IL-6 concentrations and WBC counts in amniotic fluid of women with pPROM. Conclusion: Women with pPROM and a positive amniotic fluid culture exhibit a more severe cellular immune response than those with a negative culture, which is associated with well-known markers of intra-amniotic inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2020
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