Altered Frequencies of CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ and CD8+ CD25+ Foxp3+ Regulatory T Cells in Pre-eclampsia

Abstract

Regulatory T cells are of utmost importance for tolerating the fetus. In some pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia, the frequency of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cells is altered, but there is no consistency regarding the results. Besides, little is known about the frequency of CD8⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ Treg cells in pregnancy complications. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the frequency of both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ regulatory T cells in the peripheral blood of women afflicted by preeclampsia.

Ten non-pregnant, ten healthy pregnant, and ten preeclamptic women participated in this study. Four colors flow cytometry method was used to identify the frequency of the CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ regulatory T cells in the peripheral blood.

Results indicated that the frequencies of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ and CD8⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ cells were significantly lower in preeclamptic women compared to healthy pregnant and non-pregnant ones (p<0.05). A positive correlation was also observed between CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ regulatory T cells (R=0.532, p=0.002). Moreover, CD4⁺ regulatory T cells negatively correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressures (R=-0.760 and -0.753, respectively; p<0.001). CD8⁺ regulatory T cells also had a negative correlation with systolic (R=-0.503, p=0.001) and diastolic (R=-0.590, p=0.005) blood pressures.

In conclusion, a reduction in the frequencies of both CD4⁺ CD25⁺ Foxp3⁺ and CD8⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cells might be important in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia.