[T lymphocyte subpopulations in women with spontaneous abortions]

Investigations were carried out to observe changes in the functional T-lymphocyte activity, as well as the presence of single T-lymphocyte subpopulations in the first trimester of pregnancy in 10 pregnant women with recurrent abortions in their previous pregnancies, compared to 8 healthy pregnant women in the first trimester and 20 of them in the third trimester of pregnancy, and in 30 healthy nonpregnant women at the fertile age. The functional T-lymphocyte activity (PHA-test) was decreased in pregnant women with recurrent abortions (54 +/- 0.99) and in healthy pregnant women (56 +/- 2.50) compared to healthy nonpregnant women (76 +/- 4.80). The total number of lymphocytes in the first trimester was decreased in the investigated group (22 +/- 5.38) and also in healthy pregnant women (25 +/- 1.55) in relation to nonpregnant women (33 +/- 3.15). The percentage of T-lymphocytes was similar (59 +/- 4.32 and 58 +/- 1.96 in relation to 80 +/- 2.80). Helper T-lymphocytes (T-4) were significantly decreased in the investigated group (28 +/- 4.25) compared to the group of healthy pregnant women in the first trimester (32 +/- 1.60) and healthy nonpregnant women (55 +/- 2.37). Suppression T-lymphocytes (T-8) were significantly increased in the investigated group (30 +/- 3.11) in relation to healthy pregnant women in the first trimester (25 +/- 2.45) and to healthy nonpregnant women (23 +/- 1.95). The ratio of helper T-lymphocytes and suppression T-lymphocytes (T4:T8) was significantly lower in pregnant women with recurrent abortions compared to healthy pregnant women in the first trimester and to healthy nonpregnant women.