Changes in the blood serum levels of the co-stimulatory soluble B7-H4 molecule in pregnant women during the peripartal phase

P Mach; A Gellhaus; L Wicherek; B Schmidt; R Kimmig; S Kasimir-Bauer; A Köninger

doi:10.1055/s-0036-1592892

Subscribe to RSS

Please copy the URL and add it into your RSS Feed Reader.

https://www.thieme-connect.de/rss/thieme/en/10.1055-s-00000020.xml

Share / Bookmark

Facebook X Linkedin Weibo

Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd 2016; 76 - P450
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1592892

Changes in the blood serum levels of the co-stimulatory soluble B7-H4 molecule in pregnant women during the peripartal phase

P Mach ¹, A Gellhaus ¹, L Wicherek ², B Schmidt ³, R Kimmig ¹, S Kasimir-Bauer ¹, A Köninger ¹

¹Uniklinikum Essen, Frauenklinik, Essen, Deutschland
²Department of Gynecology and Oncology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Bydgoszcz, Polen
³Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (IMIBE), University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Deutschland

Congress Abstract

Aim of the study: B7-H4, a transmembrane protein that negatively regulates T lymphocytes, seems to play a role in the suppression of the immune response at the maternal-fetal interface. The aim of this study was to compare serum levels of soluble B7-H4 prepartal and postpartal in women with spontaneous onset of labor and elective cesarian section.

Method of study: Blood was obtained from 30 prepartal and postpartal women who delivered at the University Hospital of Essen between 2011 and 2012. These patients were divided into two subgroups depending on the advancement of labor. The sB7-H4 levels were determined by ELISA (BIOZOL, Eching, Germany).

Results: In women with elective cesarian section, a significant increase in sB7-H4 blood serum concentration levels occurred postpartal, while in women with spontaneous onset of labor, no differences between prepartal and postpartal concentration levels were observed. Postpartum sB7-H4 levels did not differ between groups however, prepartum sB7-H4 levels in women with spontaneous onset of labor were significantly higher compared to women with elective cesarian section.

*Abb. 1:* Distribution of soluble B7-H4 serum levels (ng/ml) in patients before (prepartum) and after labor (postpartum) by elective cesarian section (p = 0.003)

Conclusion: These changes in sB7-H4 blood serum concentration levels suggest that this protein is involved in immunological changes associated with the spontaneous onset of labor and post-delivery homeostasis.