Elevated Th1/Th2 cell ratios in a pregnant woman with a history of RSA, secondary Sjögren's syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis complicated with one fetal demise of twin pregnancy.

PROBLEM: Elevated Th1/Th2 cytokine producing CD3(+)/CD4(+) cell ratios were reported in women with a history of recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) and multiple implantation failures. We report, significantly elevated Th1/Th2 cell ratios were noticed in a pregnant woman with twin pregnancies complicated with one fetal demise, who had a history of RSA, secondary Sjögren's syndrome (SS), and rheumatoid arthritis.

METHOD OF STUDY: Case report.

RESULTS

Peripheral blood Th1/Th2 cell ratios were significantly elevated 3 weeks prior to a fetal demise of twin pregnancies at 20 week gestation. Two weeks after fetal demise, the ratio of intracellular tumor necrosis factor-alpha/interleukin-10 producing CD3(+)/CD4(+) cells in peripheral blood was further increased to three times higher than prior ratio. Elevated Th1/Th2 ratio was down regulated after increasing dose of IVIg treatment. The patient gave birth to a male baby weighing 2650 g at 36 weeks gestation. No serious complications were found in the patient or the baby.

CONCLUSION

Systemic inflammatory immune response pre-exists prior to a fetal demise and the degree of inflammatory immune response got worse with a presence of fetal demise in utero. We infer that the placenta is not an immunological barrier to maternal Th1/Th2 immune responses.