Korean J Lab Med.  2005 Apr;25(2):111-115.

Peripheral Th1 and Th2 Lymphocytes Values by Intracellular Cytokine Staining for Interferon-and Interleukin-4 in the Patients with Repeated Spontaneous Abortion

• Park AJ
• Lee MK

Abstract

BACKGROUND
In the women who experienced recurrent spontaneous abortions (RSA), cellular immune abnormalities of peripheral blood Natural Killer (NK) cell have been reported and the imbalance of Th1 and Th2 response to the trophoblasts may lead to pregnancy loss. This study was performed to evaluate the Th1 and Th2 lymphocytes as a more useful parameter for the impending status of RSA. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples from 17 women with a history of RSA of unknown etiology, 16 normal pregnant women, and 11 non-pregnant women with a history of RSA were studied. Peripheral Th1 and Th2 lymphocytes were measured by intracellular cytokines staining for interferon (IFN)-and Interleukin (IL)-4 using FACScan (Becton-Dickinson Co. San Jose, CA, USA) and FASTIMMUNE (TM) cytokine detection system. RESULTS: The percentage of Th1 cells (10.3+/-.9% and 13.3 +/-.0%) and Th2 cells (1.9+/-.5% and 7.2+/-.8%) measured at the second and fourth month of gestation, respectively, of the RSA patients was significantly higher compared with Th1 (8.1+/-.9%) and Th2 (0.5+/-.5%) cells among the non-pregnant control group with past abortion history. The ratio of the Th1/Th2 cells is not a useful predicting marker of impending abortion. CONCLUSIONS: Th1 and Th2 cell counts by flowcytometric staining of IFN-gamma /IL-4 intracellular cytokine detection may be a useful diagnostic tool and potential parameter to identify impending abortion involving abnormal immune alteration in reproductive processes.

Keyword

Th1/Th2 cells; IFN-gamma /IL-4 FASTIMMUNE(TM); Intracellular cytokine detection; Flow cytometry; Repeated spontaneous abortion (RSA)

MeSH Terms

Abortion, Induced
Abortion, Spontaneous*
Cytokines
Female
Flow Cytometry
Humans
Interferons
Interleukin-4*
Interleukins
Lymphocytes*
Pregnancy
Pregnant Women
Th1 Cells
Th2 Cells
Trophoblasts
Cytokines
Interferons
Interleukin-4
Interleukins