Specific and Non-Specific Factors of Humoral Immunity as Markers for Pregnancy Loss in Women with Cytomegalovirus Infection

Irina A. Andrievskaya, PhD, ScD; Michael T. Lucenko, PhD, ScD*; Olga P. Babenko, PhD

Far Eastern Scientific Center of Physiology and Pathology of Respiration,Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences; Blagoveshchensk, Russian Federation

*Corresponding author: Prof. Michael T. Lucenko, PhD, ScD, Academician of RAMS, Head of Far Eastern Scientific Center of Physiology and Pathology of Respiration SB of RAMS,  Blagoveshchensk, the Russian Federation E-mail: Lucencomt@mail.ru

Published: December 3, 2015. DOI: 10.21103/Article5(4)_OA2

Abstract: 

The aim of this study was to estimate the changes in humoral immunity and their association with complications of pregnancy (spontaneous abortions, threatened miscarriage, premature birth) depending on the gestational age and recurrence of cytomegalovirus infection (CMVI). A direct relationship between the frequency of detection of an anti-CMV IgG antibody titer of 1:1600 and the prevalence of acute respiratory disease during pregnancy has been identified. We found an imbalance in the production of the non-specific antibodies (an increase in the blood levels of total IgM and a decrease in IgA and IgG levels) in the subgroup of women with relapsed CMVI at 6 to 8 weeks of gestation and spontaneous abortion, as well as in the subgroup of women with relapsed CMVI at 15 to 21 weeks of gestation and the risk of the late miscarriage, compared to those with relapsed CMVI at 9 to 14 weeks and 22 to 32 weeks of gestation. An increase in blood levels of total IgM and IgG and a decrease in IgA level was identified in the subgroup of women with relapsed CMVI at 9 to14 weeks of gestation and a threatened abortion, as well as in the subgroup of women with relapsed CMVI at 22 to 32 weeks of gestation and preterm birth. The obtained data of the imbalance in the primary and secondary immune  response in CMV- seropositive pregnant women during relapsed CMVI indicate disturbances in the systemic and local intercellular interactions of immunocompetent cells, which lead to an imbalance in the production of antibodies involved in the elimination of viral agents and to the development of a systemic inflammatory response that complicates the course of pregnancy. CMVI relapse at 7 to 8 weeks of gestation is associated with reproductive losses; a risk for threatened miscarriage, threatened premature labor, and retrochorial hematoma increases significantly with CMVI relapse in the more remote gestational age.

Keywords: 
cytomegalovirus infection; humoral immunity; spontaneous abortions; threatened miscarriage; premature birth.
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Int J Biomed. 2015; 5(4):184-187. © 2015 International Medical Research and Development Corporation. All rights reserved.