Systemic inflammatory indices in pre-eclampsia and eclampsia

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that TNF- f , TNFp55 receptor and sICAM-1 are markers of immune activation, protective response to concentrations of TNF- f and endothelial cell activation, respectively, in pre-eclampsia. In addition, MPO and sL-selectin were selected as blood discriminators of neutrophil activation. This was a cross-sectional study comparing 21 non-pregnant controls, 29 normal pregnant controls, 21 pre-eclamptic and six eclamptic women. Blood concentrations of TNF- f , sTNFp55 receptor, sICAM-1, sL-selectin, myeloperoxidase, leucocyte count, neutrophil count, C-reactive protein and n -glutamyl transferase were estimated. The neutrophil count was significantly decreased in pre-eclampsia compared with normal pregnancy (9·12 - 0·95 vs. 12·52 - 0·80 2 10 9 /l, P