[Immune responses in women with pre-eclampsia]

Studies were carried out on 26 pregnant women. Sixteen of those women suffered from moderately manifested form of pre-eclampsia, but the remaining ten women had a normal course of pregnancy. The age of women with pre-eclampsia was between 22 to 30 years, but that of the control group--from 30 to 37 years. The women with pre-eclampsia were investigated between 28 to 35 weeks' gestation and the women with normal pregnancy--between 30 to 37 weeks' gestation. Immunoglobulin A, M, G were determined as well as transferrin and T and B lymphocytes. Immunoglobulin A was increased in sera of women with pre-eclampsia, but there were no changes in other examined parameters. It is possible that similar increase could be due to a reduced elimination of immunoglobulin A through the hepatobiliary tract, which cause its elevation in its serum level. The proposed explanation could be accepted as plausible, because there is impairment of liver function in women with preeclampsia. Future studies are needed to prove this fact.