Soluble HLA-G concentrations in maternal blood and cervical vaginal fluid of pregnant women with preterm premature rupture of membranes.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G) concentrations in maternal blood serum and cervical vaginal fluid in pregnancies complicated by preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) compared to controls.

STUDY

DESIGN

Case-control study of 24 women with PPROM and 40 controls.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Vaginal and serum sHLA-G and IL-6 concentrations.

FINDINGS: Women with PPROM had significantly higher serum and vaginal sHLA-G concentrations compared to controls (respectively median 31.48U\ml versus 13.9U\ml p<0.001 and 1.7U\ml versus 0.1U\ml p<0.001). Vaginal expression of IL-6 was higher in PPROM cases compared to controls (respectively, median 31.19pg\ml versus 6.67pg\ml; p<0.001). Higher serum and vaginal sHLA-G were associated with both a shorter length of pregnancy and histological chorioamnionitis in the PPROM group.

CONCLUSIONS

Higher vaginal and serum sHLA-G in PPROM cases may be a sign of local and systemic inflammation.