title: Maternal peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations in normal and pathological pregnancies.
abstract: Flow cytometry was used to determine lymphocyte subpopulations in maternal blood from 143 pathological pregnancies: 50 with fetal aneuploidy; 32 with missed abortions; 12 with ectopic pregnancies; 20 with multi-fetal pregnancies, and 29 with pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). The values were compared to those of 240 women with normal singleton pregnancies at 8-40 weeks of gestation and 20 non-pregnant controls. In early pregnancy (8-10 weeks), compared to non-pregnant values, there was a decrease in the percentage of CD4+ cells and CD4+ to CD8+ ratio and an increase in the percentage of CD8+ cells. In later pregnancy, the CD4+ cell percentage and CD4+ to CD8+ ratio increased and the CD8+ cell percentage decreased to reach non-pregnant values at term. The percentage of natural killer (CD3- and CD16/56+) cells decreased with gestation, while the percentage of B (CD19+) cells did not change significantly. In IUGR, the percentage of CD4+ cells and CD4+ to CD8+ ratio were decreased, while the percentage of CD8+ cells was increased. In contrast, in the groups of missed abortions and ectopic pregnancies, the CD4+ to CD8+ ratio was increased. In multifetal pregnancies and those with fetal aneuploidies there were no significant differences in maternal lymphocyte subpopulations from normals.
authors.affiliation: Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine, King's College Hospital School of Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Makrydimas
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Plachouras
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Higueras
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thilaganathan
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nicolaides
mesh_terms: D000030:Abortion, Missed / Q000097:blood; D000782:Aneuploidy; D016516:CD4-CD8 Ratio; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes; D005260:Female; D005317:Fetal Growth Retardation / Q000097:blood; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000097:blood*; D011271:Pregnancy, Ectopic / Q000097:blood; D011272:Pregnancy, Multiple / Q000097:blood