Research Institute of Immunology of Chelyabinsk State Medical Academy, Russia
In cervical secretions of healthy non-pregnant women of the reproductive age high concentrations of ant-inflammatory cytokines, greatly exceeding those in blood serum, were detected. During pregnancy the level of TNF-α in cervical secretions dropped. The inflammation of the uterus neck was accompanied by a drop in the levels of IL-1α and IL-1β and a rise in the level of IL-8 in cervical secretions in pregnant and non-pregnant women. Similar changes in the cytokine profile occurred also in the blood serum, but they were less pronounced and could be observed only in non-pregnant women. The threat of the interruption of pregnancy, developing simultaneously with cervicitis, was accompanied not only by changes in the levels of cytokines in cervical secretions, but also by a perceptible increase in the content of IL-1α in the blood serum.
Zh. Mikrobiol. (Moscow), 2004, No. 4, P. 43—46