Changes of intermediate monocytes in peripheral blood of patients with preeclampsia and their significance / 中华围产医学杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo explore the role of peripheral blood intermediate monocytes in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia.MethodsFifty-two patients with established preeclampsia in Binhai County People's Hospital from October 2014 to October 2015, 42 healthy pregnant women and 42 healthy non-pregnant women were enrolled in this study. The percentage of intermediate monocyte subsets, ratio of positive cells and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2, TLR4, CD64, and triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cell-1(TREM-1), and MFI of intracellular tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin (IL)-6 were evaluated by flow cytometry. The concentrations of IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, IL-12P70 and TNF-α in serum were analyzed using Luminex liquid phase chip technology. Independent two samplest-test, analysis of variance, Mann-WhitneyU test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Pearson correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis.ResultsPercentage of intermediate monocytes was higher in preeclampsia patients [10.4%(5.3%-19.9%)]than in healthy pregnant women [6.6%(4.9%-7.8%)], and both were higher than in non-pregnant women [3.8%(2.4%-5.0)%](allP<0.05). The ratio of TLR4 and CD64 positive intermediate monocytes [(60.1±12.5)%vs (24.9±8.8)%; (85.3±5.4)% vs (67.4±7.5)%](t were 15.416 and 13.437, bothP<0.05), and MFI of TLR4 (50.3±10.2 vs 26.8±8.6), TREM-1(35.6±4.1 vs 28.6±4.7) and CD64 (39.8±5.2 vs 28.9±4.8) (t were 11.898, 7.707 and 10.454, allP<0.05) were higher in preeclampsia patients than in healthy pregnant women. MFI of intracellular IL-6 (32.3±4.7 vs 28.6±3.5) and TNF-α (44.6±6.3 vs 36.7±8.3) in intermediate monocytes of preeclampsia patients was also significantly higher than that of healthy pregnant women (t were 4.239 and 5.245, bothP<0.05). Serum concentrations of IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α were higher in preeclamptic patients than in healthy pregnant women and non-pregnant women (allP<0.05). Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between the percentage of intermediate monocytes and the serum levels of IL-6 and TNF-α in preeclamptic patients (r were 0.397 and 0.347, bothP<0.05).ConclusionsMonocyte subpopulations from preeclamptic patients are abnormally skewed toward intermediate monocytes which have high expressions of TLR4, TREM-1 and CD64, and secret more proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-α. Therefore, intermediate monocytes are specifically altered in preeclamptic patients and may play a role in the pathophysiology of preeclampsia.