Decreased frequency of peripheral blood CD8CD25FoxP3regulatory T cells correlates with IL-33 levels in pre-eclampsia.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the role of CD8CD25Foxp3regulatory T (Treg) cells in pre-eclampsia (PE).

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 46 patients with PE and 24 normotensive women within the third trimester of gestation. We analyzed the percentages of CD8CD25Foxp3Treg cells in peripheral blood using flow cytometry and the serum levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-17A, IL-10, TGF-β1, IL-1β, and IL-33 by Luminex 200.

Results: We found that patients with PE had lower percentages of CD8CD25Foxp3Treg cells than normotensive pregnant women. In addition, the percentage of CD8CD25Foxp3Treg cells was positively correlated with IL-33 concentration and negatively correlated with IL-17A concentration in patients with PE. We also found that IL-33 treatment can induce proliferation of CD8CD25Foxp3Treg cells in vitro.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that the reduced CD8CD25Foxp3Treg cells may play a role in the pathogenesis of PE. Abbreviations PE: pre-eclampsia; PBMCs: peripheral blood mononuclear cells; CTLA-4: cytotoxic T-lymphocyteantigen-4; APCs: antigen presenting cells; TGF-β: transforming growth factor-β; IL: interleukin; Treg: cells regulatory T cells; PBS: phosphate-buffered saline; Foxp3: forkhead Box protein 3; HELLPs: hemolysis, elevated liver enzyme and low platelet syndrome.