Clinical significance of regulatory antibodies content evaluation in pregnant women with fetal growth retardation

Aim. To identify the possibility of fetal growth retardation prediction at early stages of pregnancy by revealing changes in the content of some regulatory autoantibodies. Methods. A comprehensive examination of 388 pregnant women at risk of gestational complications was performed. After standardization of groups 185 pregnant women were selected for the analysis. Out of these, 80 patients with fetal growth retardation were included into the main group, 80 matched pairs were selected from the group of pregnant women at risk of fetal growth retardation (comparison group). The control group consisted of 25 healthy pregnant women with physiological pregnancy and childbirth. Patients with fetal growth retardation were divided into three subgroups. The first subgroup consisted of 40 pregnant women with grade I of fetal growth retardation, 24 pregnant women with grade II of fetal growth retardation formed the second subgroup, and 16 pregnant women with grade III of fetal growth retardation were included into the third subgroup. Along with the standard methods of examination the serum levels of regulatory class G antibodies binding with double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid, β2-glycoprotein, total phospholipids, human chorionic gonadotropin, collagen, pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A, insulin, and the level of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies, on the dates of 11-14 and 26-28 weeks of pregnancy. Results. The peculiarities of the regulatory autoantibodies content in pregnant women with fetal growth retardation and in women at risk of this condition were revealed. Pregnant women with grade I and II of fetal growth retardation had higher values of autoantibodies, whereas severe forms of fetal growth retardation were characterized by diverse changes of the examined regulatory autoantibodies with a predominance of low values. In case of pregnant women at risk of fetal growth retardation changes in the content of regulatory autoantibodies were diverse. Conclusion. The revealed changes in the content of regulatory autoantibodies can be used for prediction of fetal growth retardation in pregnant women.

regulatory autoantibodies, intrauterine fetal growth retardation, disorders of immune regulation