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CC BY 4.0 · Journal of Child Science 2024; 14(01): e1-e12
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1779449
Review Article

Immune Changes in Infants of Preeclampsia Mothers: A Systematic Review of Literature

Ahmed S. Ali 
1   Department of Paediatric, Assiut University Children Hospital, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
,
Marwa Ghazally 
1   Department of Paediatric, Assiut University Children Hospital, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
,
Mohamed Amir Fathy 
1   Department of Paediatric, Assiut University Children Hospital, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
,
Samia Atwa 
1   Department of Paediatric, Assiut University Children Hospital, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
,
Safwat M. Abdel-Aziz 
1   Department of Paediatric, Assiut University Children Hospital, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
› Author Affiliations Funding None.
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Abstract

Preeclampsia (PE) is a prevalent disease especially in developing countries. PE influences maternal immune cells and cytokines, with prevailing of proinflammatory cytokines and reduction of regulatory cells. It has a short- and long-term impact on newborn mortalities and morbidities. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of previous literature discussing the effect of PE on infant immunity to help design future research. A comprehensive search was done on three databases including PubMed, Medline, and EMBASE with mesh and text terms. We could identify 851 titles published from 2000 to the time of search. Twenty-four studies met the inclusion criteria, and they were included in the quality assessment. Twenty-four studies were identified, covering the impact of PE on various neonatal immune cells and cytokines. PE is associated with a decrease in the number of several immune cells in newborns, particularly neutrophils, with enhancing cytotoxic effect of both neutrophils and natural killer (NK) cells. Treg cells were considerably reduced with increase of cytotoxic T cells CD8+ and memory cells CD45RO+ in both CD4+ and CD8 + . Proinflammatory cytokines like IL6, IL8, and TNF were raised in severe PE. PE is linked to a decrease in regulatory immune cells and an increase in the immune cells' cytotoxic capability, as well as the prevalence of proinflammatory cytokines in newborns. These changes were observed in cord blood and peripheral blood samples; however, future research should investigate the long-term effect of PE on neonatal immunity.

Keywords

preeclampsia - immunity - immune cells - cytokines


Publication History

Received: 17 August 2023

Accepted: 19 November 2023

Article published online:
11 March 2024

© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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