[Changes of T lymphocyte and CD4+ T helper subsets in peripheral blood from women with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the relationship between occurrence of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion(URSA) and immune function of T lymphocytes.

METHODS

T lymphocyte subsets and CD4+ T helper subsets (including T helper 1 and T helper 2 cells) in peripheral blood from 30 cases with URSA and 24 healthy women (controls) were detected by enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT).

RESULTS

The percentage of CD4+ positive T lymphocytes in URSA group was higher than that in the controls (60% vs 45%, P < 0.05). Compared with the normal group, the percentage of Th1 cells increased (26% vs 14%, P < 0.01) but the percentage of Th2 cells decreased (7% vs 20%, P < 0.05), the ratio of Th1 to Th2 increased (3.80 vs 0.73, P < 0.01) in the URSA group.

CONCLUSIONS

The occurrence of URSA might be associated with proliferation of the CD4+ positive T cells and enhancement of cellular immune function mediated by Th1 cells.