Abstract
Asthma is one of the most common diseases that may complicate pregnancy. Asthma and pregnancy show bidirectional interactions with unknown immunological mechanisms. The aim of this study was to evaluate CD4+ regulatory T (Treg), natural killer (NK), NKT, invariant natural killer (iNKT), memory and naive CD4+T lymphocytes in mild to moderate partially or well controlled persistant asthmatic pregnant patients.
The prevalence of lymphocyte subsets was identified by cell surface markers and intracellular FoxP3 staining, in healthy non-pregnant (HNP; N=15), healthy pregnant (HP; N=33), asthmatic non-pregnant (ANP; N=62) and asthmatic pregnant (AP; N=61) women. Data are given in median and quartiles.
Treg cell prevalence was higher in HP than in HNP subjects (7.82 (5.27-10.24) vs. 4.88 (1.82-6.19), respectively; p=0.0052) and showed a positive correlation with fetal birth weight (p=0.02), which was blunted in AP group. AP patients had lower Treg (5.53 (2.45-7.83)) and higher iNKT (0.04 (0.01-0.18)) cell numbers than HP subjects (7.82 (5.27-10.24) and 0.01 (0.0-0.03), respectively; all p<0.05) that might suggest compromised pregnancy induced immunotolerance caused by allergic inflammation. However, lower effector/memory and higher naive T cell prevalence observed in AP (30.60 (24.42-44.18) and 57.24 (46.34-67.06), respectively) than in ANP group (43.11 (32.52-55.38) and 48.18 (38.07-58.62), respectively) suggested immunosuppression exerted by pregnancy on asthma.
Pregnancy induced Treg cell proliferation is absent in asthmatic pregnancy that may interfere with normal intrauterine growth. However, pregnancy induced inhibition of asthmatic immune responses can also be detected in uncomplicated asthmatic pregnancy.
- © 2011 ERS