sCD40 ligand determined in maternal and umbilical cord blood in pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia with and without intrauterine growth retardation.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was determination and comparative analysis of the maternal and umbilical cord sCD40L serum levels in pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia with and without intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and in normotensive pregnancies.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was carried out on 16 patients with singleton pregnancies complicated by severe pre-eclampsia with appropriate-for-gestational-age weight infants and 14 pregnant patients with severe pre-eclampsia complicated by IUGR. The control group consisted of 13 healthy normotensive delivering patients. Five milliliters of blood were taken by venipuncture from each pre-eclamptic patient and from each woman from the control group before active phase of labor and 5 ml of umbilical vein blood were taken immediately after delivery and collected in sterile tubes. Maternal and umbilical serum sCD40L concentrations were estimated using a sandwich ELISA assay.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Our results reveal the higher levels of maternal and umbilical sCD40L serum levels in pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia with and without IUGR. The mean maternal values were 4.022 +/- 2.399 ng/ml in group P, 3.914 +/- 2.824 ng/ml in group PI and 0.885 +/- 0.064 ng/ml in healthy controls. The mean umbilical values were 2.633 +/- 1.984 ng/ml in group P, 2.703 +/- 1.996 ng/ml in group PI and 1.112 +/- 0.436 ng/ml in the control group. It seems that these higher concentrations of sCD40L protect maternal immune cells bearing CD40 receptor from Fas-mediated apoptosis. Our findings may suggest also enhanced platelet activation in pre-eclamptic patients. It may be one of the factors responsible for the enhanced procoagulatory and proinflammatory properties, and increased cytokine production, and endothelial cell dysfunction in pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia.