title: Baby born too soon: an overview and the impact beyond the infection.
abstract: Spontaneous preterm delivery, prematurity, and low birth weight due to prematurity account for a great part of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Inflammation may cause preterm labor, with the involvement of different mediators that produce diverse aspects of the inflammatory response. Although bacteria are considered to be the main trigger for intrauterine infection/inflammation, immunological factors also appear to be involved. Recently, molecular genetic studies have helped us better understand the underlying pathophysiologic processes. During mammalian pregnancy, maternal-fetal tolerance involves a number of immunosuppressive factors produced by placenta. Recently, placenta-derived exosomes have emerged as new immune regulators in the maternal immune tolerance. This review focuses on the specific immune parameters that become altered during human pregnancy, the identity and function of some immune modulators that have been best characterized to date, as well as a comprehensive evaluation of the pregnancy-associated mechanisms that downregulate proinflammatory immunity to a level sufficient to prevent the triggering of premature common pathway of labor and damage to developing organs.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics - Infectious Diseases in Gynecology and Obstetrics Sector , Federal University of Paraná , Curitiba , Brazil.
authors.forename: Renate
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: von Linsingen
authors.affiliation: b Department of Genetics , Federal University of Paraná , Curitiba , Brazil , and.|c Departamento de Genética , Laboratory de Immunogenetics and Histocompatibility (LIGH), Centro Politécnico, Setor de Ciências Biológicas , Curitiba , Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria da Graça
authors.initials: MDG
authors.lastname: Bicalho
authors.affiliation: a Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics - Infectious Diseases in Gynecology and Obstetrics Sector , Federal University of Paraná , Curitiba , Brazil.
authors.forename: Newton Sérgio
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: de Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000653:Amniotic Fluid / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D010920:Placenta / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality
keywords: Inflammation; pregnancy immunology; preterm birth