Abstract

NUNEZ-GONZALEZ, José Rafael de Jesús; SANABRIA-VERA, Charles Jonhson  and  ROMERO-ADRIAN, Tania. Serum Measurements of TNFa and TNFa-Soluble Receptors in Normal Pregnancies and Preeclampsia. Invest. clín [online]. 2001, vol.42, n.3, pp.171-182. ISSN 0535-5133.

A multicentrical prospective clinical study was designed with the purpose of measure tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa) and tumor necrosis factor alpha-receptors p55 and p75 (sTNFa-p55 and sTNFa-p75) in normal pregnancy and preeclampsia (PE). Blood samples were collected without anticoagulant from 30 pregnant women, matched for cronological and gestational age, 15 healthy pregnants (group A) and 15 women with PE (group B). TNFa was measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and sTNFa-p55 and sTNFa-p75 were measured by amplified immunoenzymometric assay. The statistical analysis was carried out using the paired t Student test. The values of TNFa were 7.07 ± 1.63 pg/mL (X ± SE) in group A and 16.43 ± 2.92 in group B pg/mL (p<0.05).); concentrations of sTNFa-p55 were 2.69 ± 0.17 ng/mL and 5.18 ± 0.54 ng/mL in groups A and B respectively (p<0.001); sTNFa-p75 reached levels of 5.94 ± 0.27 ng/mL in healthy pregnants and 9.02 ± 0.66 ng/mL in patients with PE (p<0.001). TNFa, sTNFa-p55 and sTNFa-p75 were significantly higher in preeclamptic women than in normotensive controls. These findings indicate that the levels of TNFa, el TNFa-p55 and TNFa-p75 were elevated in PE. Further research is needed to identify modifiable risk factors for the excessive synthesis and release of TNFa in pregnancy, and to assess whether the lowering of TNFa concentrations in pregnancy alters the incidence and severity of PE.

Keywords : Pregnancy; preeclampsia; citokynes; TNFa; STNFa-P55; STNFa-P75..