CYTOKINE PRODUCTION IN THE SERUM AND SPLEEN OF MICE FROM DAY 6 TO 14 OF GESTATION - CYTOKINES PLACENTA SPLEEN SERUM

Pregnancy, like most biologic phenomena, involves the action of cytoki nes. These proteins have a short half-life and are believed to exert t heir effect close to their site of production, where diagnostic tests cannot be easily performed. Here we show that the cytokine content in the maternal serum reflects cytokine production and secretion from mat ernal spleen cells, which also correlates with production from decidua l cells. We show that GM-CSE IL-3, and IL-10 are present in the serum at specific time intervals during the first half of murine pregnancy, which correlates with their production from maternal spleen cells. Pur ified GM-CSF and IL-3 from spleen-cell-culture supernatants are biolog ically active molecules, able to stimulate placental-cell proliferatio n. Furthermore, TNF-alpha, which has been identified in many cases of fetal rejection as well as in labor, is shown to be naturally produced during the second half of pregnancy. Additionally, within the limits of the sensitivity of the technique we have used, the detection of IL- 4 and the absence of detectable levels of IL-2 in the maternal serum s trongly comforts the hypothesis that pregnancy is a Th2-dependent phen omenon. The results presented in this paper show that the cytokine pro file during pregnancy can be monitored by simple blood tests, which ma y be of relevance both in the followup of a physiological human pregna ncy and to the diagnosis of recurrent abortions due to cytokine imbala nce.