Abstract
AIMS: To determine the effect of pregnancy on C4d concentrations and to assess whether C4d remains a useful disease activity marker in the management of connective tissue diseases during pregnancy. METHODS: Plasma C3, C4, and C4d concentrations were measured in 83 women at various stages of normal pregnancy and compared with those in 80 non-pregnant controls. RESULTS: C3 concentrations in the pregnant women were significantly raised (p = 0.0001) and the C4 concentrations were reduced (p = 0.0007), and accompanied by a significant increase in C4d (p = 0.0001). The C4d:C4 ratio was higher in the pregnant women (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancy induces activation of the classical complement pathway. C4d concentrations cannot be used to monitor disease activity in patients with connective tissue diseases during pregnancy.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Faulk W. P., Jarret R., Keane M., Johnson P. M., Boackle R. J. Immunological studies of human placentae: complement components in immature and mature chorionic villi. Clin Exp Immunol. 1980 May;40(2):299–305. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Faulk W. P., Johnson P. M. Immunological studies of human placentae: identification and distribution of proteins in mature chorionic villi. Clin Exp Immunol. 1977 Feb;27(2):365–375. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gallery E. D., Raftos J., Gyory A. Z., Wells J. V. A prospective study of serum complement (C3 and C4) levels in normal human pregnancy: effect of the development of pregnancy-associated hypertension. Aust N Z J Med. 1981 Jun;11(3):243–245. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jenkins J. S., Powell R. J. C3 degradation products (C3d) in normal pregnancy. J Clin Pathol. 1987 Nov;40(11):1362–1363. doi: 10.1136/jcp.40.11.1362. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McCormick J. N., Faulk W. P., Fox H., Fudenberg H. H. Immunohistological and elution studies of the human placenta. J Exp Med. 1971 Jan 1;133(1):1–18. doi: 10.1084/jem.133.1.1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Morrow W. J., Williams D. J., Ferec C., Casburn-Budd R., Isenberg D. A., Paice E., Snaith M. L., Youinou P., Le Goff P. The use of C3d as a means of monitoring clinical activity in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 1983 Dec;42(6):668–671. doi: 10.1136/ard.42.6.668. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Nitsche J. F., Tucker E. S., 3rd, Sugimoto S., Vaughan J. H., Curd J. G. Rocket immunoelectrophoresis of C4 and C4d. A simple sensitive method for detecting complement activation in plasma. Am J Clin Pathol. 1981 Nov;76(5):679–684. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/76.5.679. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Senaldi G., Makinde V. A., Vergani D., Isenberg D. A. Correlation of the activation of the fourth component of complement (C4) with disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus. Ann Rheum Dis. 1988 Nov;47(11):913–917. doi: 10.1136/ard.47.11.913. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Teisner B., Hau J., Tucker M., Lahood J., Grudzinskas J. G. Circulating C3, C4, and C3 split products (C3c and C3d) during normal pregnancy. Am J Reprod Immunol. 1982 Dec;2(6):309–311. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0897.1982.tb00198.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Thomson N. C., Stevenson R. D., Behan W. M., Sloan D. P., Horne C. H. Immunological studies in pre-eclamptic toxaemia. Br Med J. 1976 May 29;1(6021):1307–1309. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6021.1307. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]