Abstract



Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the population of B CD 19⁺ cells and autoreactive B-1 CD19⁺5⁺ lymphocytes in peripheral blood and the presence of anti-cardiolipin antibodies in the serum of patients with pre-eclampsia and healthy pregnant women.

Materials and methods: 40 patients with pre-eclampsia and 40 healthy pregnant women were included in the study. The expressions of surface molecules were estimated using the two-color flow cytometric method. The total concentrations of class IgG, IgM and IgA anti-cardiolipin antibodies were measured with the use of the semi-quantitative ELISA immunoenzymatic method.

Results: The percentage of B CD 19⁺ cells in the group of patients with pre-eclampsia did not differ in comparison with healthy, pregnant women. The percentage of B-1 CD19⁺⁵+ lymphocytes, which are responsible for the production of autoantibodies, did not exceed 1.5 % in both studied groups. The negative value of anti-cardiolipin antibodies was present in 70.0 % of patients with pre-eclampsia and in 75.0 % of healthy women, 17.5 % of patients from the study group and 15.0 % of healthy pregnant women had the borderline value of ACA. The positive value of ACA was present in 12.5 % of patients with pre-eclampsia and 10.0 % from the control group.

Conclusions: The results obtained suggest that anti-cardiolipin antibodies are not the leading cause of pre-eclampsia.