Peripheral Blood Cytokine Profiling During Pregnancy and Post-partum Periods Thomas A. Kraus 1 , Rhoda S. Sperling 1 , Stephanie M. Engel 2 , Yungtai Lo 2 , Lisa Kellerman 2 , Tricia Singh 1 , Martine Loubeau 3 , Yongchao Ge 4 , Jose L. Garrido 3 , Marta Rodrı´guez-Garcı´a 3 , Thomas M. Moran 3 1 Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; 2 Department of Preventive Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; 3 Department of Microbiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA; 4 Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA Introduction Pregnancy appears to compromise, or at least alter, the systemic immune system. Clinical evidence of an alteration in maternal immune function includes worsening or remission of autoimmune disease during pregnancy (for review, 1,2 ) and increased susceptibility to intracellular pathogens. 3–5 In line with these observations, a TH1 ⁄ TH2 model was hypothesized whereby successful pregnancy was dependent upon a skewing to a TH2 response. 6 Although stimulated peripheral blood T cells from pregnant women do show a bias toward TH2 by intra- cellular staining, there is evidence to suggest systemic inflammation during normal pregnancy as well. 7,8 Therefore, an inflammatory model has been put forth 9 that suggests that the local fetal ⁄ maternal interface is in a controlled state of inflammation early during implantation 10 and later during parturition. 11 Cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors (collectively called cytokines herein) are important messengers of activation in the immune system. Keywords Immunity, reproduction, serum, systemic Correspondence Thomas M. Moran, 1 Gustave Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA. E-mail: Thomas.Moran@mssm.edu Submitted March 17, 2010; accepted May 11, 2010. Citation Kraus TA, Sperling RS, Engel SM, Lo Y, Kellerman L, Singh T, Loubeau M, Ge Y, Garrido JL, Rodrı ´guez-Garcı´a M, Moran TM. Peripheral blood cytokine profiling during pregnancy and post-partum periods. Am J Reprod Immunol 2010; 64: 411–426 doi:10.1111/j.1600-0897.2010.00889.x Problem Pregnancy requires that the maternal immune system adapt to prevent rejection of the fetal semi-allograft. This immunologic adaptation may contribute to pregnancy-related alterations in disease susceptibility and severity of infections from viral pathogens such as influenza virus. Method of Study As part of a larger study investigating the maternal systemic immune response during pregnancy, peripheral blood was collected three times during pregnancy and twice post-partum to measure serum levels of 23 cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors. This longitudinal study design allowed each woman’s post-partum blood draw to serve as her own comparison, thus controlling for interpersonal variability in expres- sion levels. Results When compared to the post-partum samples, significant pregnancy- related changes in IFNc, TNFa, VEGF, GCSF, Eotaxin, and MCP-1 expression were observed. These changes have significant immunologic effects in vivo and in culture. Conclusion Pregnancy-associated changes to steady state serum cytokines may have important immunologic consequence. ORIGINAL ARTICLE American Journal of Reproductive Immunology 64 (2010) 411–426 ª 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S 411