Assessment of Alterations in Immune Function During Pregnancy and Post Parturition

Completed

Conditions studied: Pregnancy Immune Function

In brief

Traditionally, it has been suggested that pregnancy causes an immunosuppressive state that would facilitate fetal tolerance and result in an increased susceptibility to infection. Although the suppression has been characterized as a global T-cell defect, the observation that the increase in susceptibility is restricted only to specific intracellular bacteria and viruses is consistent with a down regulation of only certain components of the innate immune system. Progress in the treatment and management of infections during pregnancy will require further understanding of the changes to the immune system that occur during pregnancy. It is hypothesized that there is a fundamental down-regulation in the innate immune system that occurs during pregnancy and remains until delivery and that changes in serum cytokines influence na(SqrRoot) ve CD4 differentiation to different subpopulations. To that end, this study will evaluate blood samples drawn from pregnant women during early, mid, and late pregnancy and post-partum for changes in the innate immune system and compare them to those of healthy, non-pregnant women. Changes in the cytokine profile and in the lymphocyte and natural killer (NK) cell populations will be identified. A comparison of any observed changes will be made with those previously reported for in vitro and in vivo studies.

Key facts

Study ID
NCT01200979
Run by
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
People needed
41
Starts
2011-09-30
Expected to finish
2019-10-11
Last updated by the study team
2019-10-18

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 45. Sex: female. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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