The Role of Cytokines among Women with Spontaneous Miscarriage

To evaluate cytokine production in women with unexplained pregnancy loss.
The study enrolled 84 women age 15-41 years with a mean age of 25.07 ± 6.6, during the period from September 2011 till March 2012 from Basrah Hospitals, Iraq. The patients group comprised 46 women with first trimester miscarriage. The control group included 38 women with first trimester successful pregnancy with no history of miscarriage. Cytokines were measured by ELISA.
There were significantly higher levels of IFN-, TNF-, IL-2 and IL-10 in the aborted women as compared to the controls. In relation to IL-4 and IL-6 non-significant difference was detected between women with miscarriage and control groups. Significant effect of age on serum IL-2 and IL-10 in women with first trimester miscarriage was recorded while no effect observed in the levels of IFN-, TNF-, IL-4 and IL-6. Furthermore, significant higher level of all Th-1 cytokines for miscarriage group than control group for women aged 25-34 years was noticed. In contrast, non-significant differences were found between estimated level for miscarriage and control groups of all Th-1 cytokines for age group >34 years.
This study supports the hypothesis of role of Th-1 produced cytokines in the pathogenesis of miscarriage.