TOXOPLASMOSIS AND ABORTION: PRO-INFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES GENE EXPRESSION OF THE HOST IMMUNE CELLS
Mona Said El-Sherbini1, Amany A Abd El-Aal1, Walid Sayed El-Sherbiny2, Samar Sayed Attia1, Mohamed S. Zaki Badr3, Asmaa Abd El-Aal4 and Inas Z. Abdel Aziz1.
Departments of Medical Parasitology1, Obestetric & Gynaecology2, Clinical Pathology4, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.
Department of Molecular Biology3, Medical Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Egypt.
Purpose: Toxoplasmosis induces variable outcomes in pregnant women. This work aimed at studying gene expression profile of pro-inflammatory cytokines in Toxoplasma sero-positive cases. Methods: Study groups included; group I: 19 cases of repeated abortions with no successful pregnancy, group II: 28 multiparous women, without any abortions, and group III: 14 multigravida with successful pregnancies and few abortions. RT-qPCR system was optimized to measure pro-inflammatory IFN-γ & TNF-α cytokines. Results: The 2 studied cytokines were significantly upregulated in group I, with remarkable bias towards IFN-γ, denoting a predominant inflammatory state in group I. In group II; tested cytokines were approximately in a balanced state. A significant positive correlation was detected between the two cytokines together (p=0.002, r=0.96) in group II, indicating the harmonized and synchronized expression towards the pro-inflammatory state. Conclusion: The present study suggests a potential role of those cytokine profiles in the upcoming prognostic or/and therapeutic concern.
June 2016