Expression And Clinical Significance Of Soluble HLA-G In Normal Pregnant Women And Preeclampsia Patients

HLA-G is characterized by a limited polymorphism, which differs from the high polymorphic classical HLA-A, -B or HLA-C locus. The HLA-G gene is a kind of non-classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class Ib genes, located the sixth short arm of a chromosome of the human being. In contrast to classical HLA class I antigens, HLA-G has a low polymorphism, limited distribution to normal tissues and seven isoforms resulting from its primary mRNA alternative splicing. The HLA-G gene expresses in vascular endothelial cells of fetus chorionic villus, amniotic fluid, proliferating cytotroblast cells of chorionic villus and epithelial tissue of thymus.It plays a role in maternal-fetal tolerance maintaining normal pregnancy. For a woman in child-bearing age, the abnormal expression of HLA-G is possibly associated with certain complications of pregnancy (such as infertility, idiopathic recurrent spontaneous abortions and gestational hypertension). The HLA-G gene can inhibit NK cell-mediated cytolysis and the lytic activity of antigen-specific of T cells, can induce the apoptosis of CD8+ CTL. It can regulate releasing of cytokine, and then influence organism immunoreaction. The study of the HLA-G gene expression will benefit to mother-infant health and human assisted reproduction. Thus, the HLA-G gene is a significant modulator of anthropo-reproduction, the study of its functions should contribute to better understanding of human reproduction and may be helpful for increasing the success rate of the assisted reproductive technology. Preeclampisia is the deseases which only occur in pregnant women and threaten the health of the pregnant women and the fetals. Until now, its etiopathogenesis is not clear and lack of the effective predicting marker. This research aims to explore the possible relationship between soluble HLA-G and the preeclampsiaObjective: 1. To detect the serum level of soluble HLA-G (sHLA-G) in different periods of normal pregnancy, and to explore the role of sHLA-G in normal pregnancy; 2. To detect the serum level of sHLA-G in preeclampsia and the third trimester in normal pregnancy, and to explore the relationship between sHLA-G and the preeclampsia.Methods: Serum samples were collected from 40 pregnant women (20 cases in control group, 20 cases in preeclampsia group). sHLA-G levels were determined with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results: 1. sHLA-G level in normal pregnency during the three trimester is 11.96±4.27 ng/mL, 11.50±4.17 ng/mL, 10.72±3.40 ng/mL, respectively. 2. sHLA-G in preeclampsia group before 1abor is 9.46±5.10 ng/mL, significantly lower than that of the control group (P<0.05).Conclusion: sHLA-G may play important roles in the normal pregnancy and associate with pathogenesis of preeclampsia.