title: Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-15 and interleukin-10 in patients with pre-eclampsia in comparison with normotensive pregnant women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a pregnancy associated disorder characterized by hyper-tension and proteinuria. The first 2 stages of PE cause dysfunction in uteroplacental perfusion and oxidative stress while the third stage of PE is due to the release of inflammatory and angiogenic factors, which could lead to maternal endothelial damage and systemic inflammatory response. In this study, we compared the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-15 (IL-15), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in PE and normotensive women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum samples of 84 pregnant women (44 PE and 40 normotensive) were evaluated for TNF-α, IL-15 and IL-10 by sandwich ELISA assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The women with PE showed significantly higher serum levels of TNF-α and IL-15 (P = 0.001 and 0.01 respectively) in comparison with normotensive pregnant women. Conversely, the serum levels of IL-10 in normotensive women were significantly higher compared to PE patients (P = 0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study demonstrated that inflammatory T helper 1-type responses are increased in PE women compared to normotensive pregnant women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Fathollah
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kalantar
authors.affiliation: Department of Lab Sciences, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rajaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir Behzad
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Heidari
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mansouri
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Nesa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rashidi
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam Hosseinali
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Izad
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahroo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirahmadian
keywords: Interleukin-10; interleukin-15; preeclampsia; tumor necrosis factor-α