Subclinical infection as a cause of inflammation in preeclampsia.

Preeclampsia, a pregnancy-exclusive hypertensive disorder, is the major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality, with a greater importance in developing countries. The role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia has been the object of recent studies by our group. We have described elevated levels of inflammatory markers (tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, and C-reactive protein) in preeclamptic patients and demonstrated that Latin-American women present a higher degree of inflammation than women from developed countries.