Aberrant TNF-a And TGF-β₁ Expression By Early Spontaneous Aborters

Objective: To investigate the aberrant expressions of TNF-a and TGF-β1 in periphral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs) and placental tissues in patients with early spontaneous abortion.Methods: We measured the TNF-a and TGF-β1 mRNA expressions in PBMCs from 30 early spontaneous aborters, 40 normal early pregnant women,and 40 normal women without pregnancy using semi-quatitative transcriptional-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) technique. We also identified TNF-a and TGF-β1 proteins in placental tissues using immunohistochemistry .Results We observed that the TNF-a mRNA levels of the above three groups were 21.05±9.93%,69.29±12.94%,and 95.18±13.28%,respectively. Statistically significant differences were found among groups (p<0.05).The TGF-β1 mRNA levels were 21.14±9.44%,97.08±12.72%, and 73.04±19.30%, respectively. Significantly differences were also found among groups (p<0.05). As for the intensity of the immunohistochemistry signal, TNF-a in syncytiotrophoblastic and cytotrophoblastic cells of aborters was substantially higher than that of normal pregnant women(p<0.01 , p<0.01),but TGF-β1 in syncytiotrophoblastic cells of aborters was markedly lower than that of normal early pregnant women(p<0.01). Conclusion 1)These data clearly suggest that there is an involvement of TNF-a at the fetomaternal interface leading to spontaneous abortion.2) The levels of TGF-β1 mRNA expression in PBMCs of normal early pregnant women are significantly higher than those of nomal non-pregnant women.This indicates that TGF-β1 may contribute to the maintenance of pregnancy.3) The levels of TGF-β1 mRNA expression in PBMCs and TGF-β1 in syncytiotrophoblastic cells of aborters are significantly lower than those of the normal early pregnant women.The abnormal expression of TGF-β1 may be associated with pregnancy failure.