Induction of VCAM-1 expression by human cytomegalovirus infection in women with spontaneous abortion VCAM-1

ABSTRACT

To elucidate the possible role of Human cytomegalovirus HCMV in pregnancy loss through induction of certain pro-inflammatory adhesion molecules Paraffin embedded sections of currete samples were obtained from 34 women who had spontaneous abortion, and 5 from women who had elective termination of pregnancy [as control], and then subjected for immunohistochemistry analysis to detect human cytomegalovirus [HCMV] early protein and VCAM-1 molecule. Nine out of 34 women with spontaneous abortion were positive for HCMV early protein, with a significantly higher expression of VCAM-1 in HCMV positive cases as compared with HCMV negative and the control group [P= 0.05, 0.001; respectively]. HCMV infection may play an important role in the pathology of pregnancy loss on multidirectional bases include inducing the surface expression of pro-inflammatory adhesion molecules like VCAM-1