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Mol. Hum. Reprod. Advance Access originally published online on July 23, 2009
Molecular Human Reproduction 2009 15(11):713-724; doi:10.1093/molehr/gap054
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Leukocytes are primed in peripheral blood for activation during term and preterm labour{dagger}

M. Yuan1, F. Jordan2, I.B. McInnes3, M.M. Harnett3 and J.E. Norman1,4

1 Centre for Reproductive Biology, The Queen's Medical Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH16 4TY, UK 2Reproductive and Maternal Medicine, University of Glasgow, 10 Alexandra Parade, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK 3Division of Immunology, Infection and Inflammation, Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre (GBRC), University of Glasgow, 120 University Place, Glasgow G12 8TA, UK

4 Correspondence address. Tel: +44-131-242-6623; E-mail jane.norman{at}ed.ac.uk

We hypothesized that the priming and activation of maternal leukocytes in peripheral blood is a key component of parturition, and that inappropriate preterm priming of leukocytes might initiate preterm labour and delivery. The purpose of this study was to characterize peripheral blood leukocyte activation during human term and preterm labour. We obtained blood samples from pregnant women at term and preterm, both in labour and not in labour. Leukocytes were characterized according to cell subtype and cell surface marker expression. Additionally, we quantified leukocyte cytokine mRNA production, migratory ability and reactive oxygen species production of neutrophils and macrophages. We found that both term and preterm labour were associated with an increase in monocyte and neutrophil proportion or number—neutrophil migratory ability and cell surface marker expression indicating activation. Messenger RNA expression of IL-1β and IL-8, MCP-1 and TLR-2 was also increased. We conclude that leukocytes in peripheral blood are primed in preparation for activation during term and preterm labour, and that this may contribute to the pathophysiological events of parturition. These data may lead to novel therapies and diagnostic tools for the prevention and/or diagnosis of preterm birth.

Key words: parturition/pregnancy/leukocyte/cytokine/immunology

{dagger} This work was previously presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation (2007/2008) and the abstracts published as follows: Yuan M, McInnes IB, Harnett MM, Norman JE. Leukocyte activation in peripheral blood during pregnancy. Reprod Sci 2007;14:58A; Yuan M, McInnes IB, Harnett MM, Norman JE. Regulation of chemotaxis and reactive oxygen species production by maternal leukocytes during parturition. Reprod Sci 2007;14:64A; Yuan M, Jordan F, McInnes IB, Harnett MM, Norman JE. Up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in circulating leukocytes during term and preterm labour. Reprod Sci 2008;15:189A; Yuan M, McInnes IB, Harnett MM, Norman JE. Distribution of natural killer cells in peripheral blood during term and preterm parturition. Reprod Sci 2008;15:189A.

Submitted on February 4, 2009; resubmitted on June 25, 2009; accepted on July 2, 2009.


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