Levels of IL-17 and IL-35 in Chinese women as biomarkers of preeclampsia, and their pharmacological association with Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Purpose: To determine the serum levels of IL-17 and IL-35 in preeclamptic Chinese women, and their pharmacological association with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) compounds. Methods: In this study, 60 preeclamptic and 60 healthy pregnant Chinese women comprised the study and control groups, respectively. The serum levels of IL-17 and IL-35 were determined using the ELISA technique. Moreover, the anti-inflammatory effects of 5 TCM compounds were determined with respect to their inhibitory potential against IL-10 and IL-35 in RAW 264.7 cells. Results: There were statistically significant differences in mean serum levels of IL-17 and IL-35 between preeclamptic patients and control patients (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the serum levels of the two cytokines were significantly higher in patients with severe preeclampsia than in patients with mild preeclampsia (p < 0.05). Significant positive correlations were observed between systolic blood pressure of patients and levels of IL-17 and IL-35. The 5 TCM compounds showed good inhibitory potential against IL-17 and IL-35, when compared to the reference drug and positive control (p < 0.05). Conclusion: IL-17 and IL-35 are useful inflammatory biomarkers for preeclampsia in Chinese women, and can potentially be used to assess the severity of the disease. In addition, TCM compounds which inhibit IL-17 and IL-35 may be useful therapeutic agents for controlling preeclampsia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]