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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Dissecting Innate Immune Signaling in Viral Evasion of Cytokine Production
Published on: March 2, 2014
Plasma antiviral activity and interferon-gamma production by superantigen-stimulated lymphocytes during normal human
G Grasso1, L Massai, P Migliaccio
1Department of Biomedical Science, University of Siena, Italy. grasso@unisi.it
Problem:
Plasma interferon (IFN)-beta levels, lymphocyte responsiveness, and evaluation of the relationship between circulating antiviral activity (AA) and IFN-gamma production were studied in pregnant women and nonpregnant age-matched controls with the objective of elucidating the downregulation of IFN-gamma production in successful pregnancy.
Method Of Study:
In plasma and supernatants of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) cultures, stimulated with staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) superantigen, from 43 pregnant women with a history of normal pregnancy and 30 healthy nonpregnant age-matched controls, levels of AA were measured in a micromethod by inhibition of the cytopathic effect (CPE) caused by vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in the human amnionic cell line (WISH).
Results:
Significantly higher plasma AA (60% was IFN-gamma and residual activity was acid-labile IFN-like) was present in pregnant women than controls. On the other hand, SEA-activated PBMCs from pregnant women produced significantly lower IFN-gamma levels than those of nonpregnant women. Furthermore, maternal plasma AA levels correlated negatively with IFN-gamma production by SEA-stimulated PBMCs.
Conclusion:
The hypothesis that successful pregnancy requires downregulation of IFN-gamma is only partially sustained, suggesting that the immunology of pregnancy is more complex and that murine and human pregnancy have different cytokine profiles.
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