Identification of Maternal Serum Longitudinal Signatures Through Profiling of 96 Cytokines

Changes in the maternal serum cytokine landscape occur throughout pregnancy, representing immune adaptations and modifications to support a healthy pregnancy. A better understanding of normal cytokine patterns can help improve the management of pregnancy and potentially predict complications. Using maternal serum samples collected at four different timepoints from 29 subjects, we characterized the longitudinal serum cytokine patterns throughout normal pregnancy with a multiplex ELISA of 96 cytokines. Based on unsupervised principal component analyses of the 96-cytokine data, we developed an integrated panel that incorporated the data of 21 key cytokines. This integrated immune signature allowed us to distinguish serum samples collected at different stages of healthy pregnancy and evaluate their chemotactic properties in vitro. We also evaluated the potential of using integrated cytokine scores for identifying pathological condition like preeclampsia before clinical signs are presented. This study explored new approaches of developing serum biomarker panels for immune profiling and early detection of pathological conditions during pregnancy.