ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Maternal Circulating TNF‐α Levels are Highly Correlated with IL‐10 Levels, but not IL‐6 and IL‐8 Levels, in Women with Pre‐Eclampsia

PROBLEM: Several lines of evidence have shown that maternal cytokine levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and IL-10 were altered in women with pre-eclampsia (PE) compared to those from normal pregnancies. In this study, we determined whether these cytokine levels are correlated before and after delivery in patients with PE. METHOD OF STUDY: Venous blood was obtained from 50 women diagnosed with severe PE at the time of admission and 24 hr after delivery. Plasma concentrations for TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10 were measured by ELISA. RESULTS: There were no statistical differences for maternal levels of TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-10 before and 24 hr postpartum. TNF-alpha and IL-10, but not IL-6 and IL-8, levels were significantly correlated before and 24 hr after delivery: TNF-alpha: y = 19.963 + 0.953*x; r(2) = 0.924; IL-10: y = 10.521 + 1.113*x; r(2) = 0.984, P < 0.001, respectively. Furthermore, TNF-alpha levels were correlated with IL-10 levels, but not with IL-6 and IL-8 levels. CONCLUSION: The correlation patterns of TNF-alpha with IL-10 and TNF-alpha with IL-6 and IL-8 suggest disparity in functional regulations between these cytokines in maternal circulation in PE.