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Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and early onset pre-eclampsia

Roya Sherkat, Behrouz Attaei, Neda Pari Zangeneh, Saba Sheikhbahae, Somayeh Najafi, Azar Danesh, Majid Yaran, Maryam Nasirian

Introduction: Pre-eclampsia is one of the common gestational disorders characterized by hypertension after 20 weeks of gestation and proteinuria with unknown different etiologies. It is a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. Human Cytomegalovirus (CMV) can affect uterine villuses and maternal spiral arteries. Therefore this study was designed to evaluate the potential link between Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and early onset pre-eclampsia.

Materials and Methods: Thirty nine pregnant women with pre-eclampsia and forty healthy pregnant woman (as control group) were compared with each other in the term of demographic features and serum levels of IgM and IgG anti-CMV with an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Also the avidity index for CMV IgG were evaluated and compared between two groups.

Results: All the members of case and control groups were seronegative for anti-CMV IgM. Anti-CMV IgM and anti-CMV IgG status did not significantly differ between two groups (P=0.054 and P=0.151, respectively). Both the mean value of anti-CMV IgM serum levels and anti-CMV IgG avidity were not statistically different in patients with pre-eclampsia in comparison with control group (P=0.133 and P=0.238 respectively). Although all the enrolled individuals had positive anti-CMV IgG status, CMV IgG serum titer was lower in patients with pre-eclampsia compared to healthy subjects (174.35 vs. 208.65 Ru/ml, P=0.026).

Conclusions: Lower level of anti-CMV IgG serum level in patients with pre-eclampsia represents decreased immune response to CMV infection which might have led to reactivation of chronic CMV infection and uterus vascular injury in the course of pregnancy.