EXPRESSION OF SERUM CYTOKINE( IL-17) AND OXIDATIVE STRESS MARKER (GSH) IN IRAQI PREGNANT WOMEN WITH PRE-ECLAMPSIA.

Background:- Pre-eclampsia is the second leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States. Infants born to affected mothers face a five-fold increase in death rate. Sometimes referred to as toxaemia by the lay public, Pre-eclampsia is defined as the presence of hypertension (systolic blood pressure [BP] ?140mmHg or diastolic BP?90 mmHg), and proteinuria exceeding 0.3 g/day after the twentieth week of pregnancy in a previously normotensive non protein uric woman.preeclampsia is associated with chronic inflammation and placental oxidative stress (ROS), chronic IL-17 increases blood pressure, which though exerts a host-defensive role in many infectious diseases, it promotes inflammatory pathology in autoimmunity and other settings. Objectives:- To evaluate natural antioxidant level (GSH) & IL-17 in the sera of pregnant women with preeclampsia. Patients / Methods:- The target subjects of this descriptive cross-sectional study consisted of 60 pregnant (30 pregnant women with preeclampsia (severe and mild to moderate) and 30 (non-preeclamptic) pregnant women (control) diagnosed by a specialist Obstetrics and Gynecology, aged 15 to 40 years who were recruited from the outpatient clinic of of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Al-Imamain Al-khadimain city hospital,between December of 2014 and the November 2015.Serum IL-17 was estimated using an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbant Assay ( ELISA ) technique.while GSH was measured by Burtis and Ashwood. Results:- Serum levels of IL-17 was statistically significantly elevated in the patients with preclampsia (severe and mild to moderate) compared to normotensive pregnant women ( p < 0.001 ) and a significant difference was detected as well within preclamptic patients groups severe with mild to moderate (p< 0.05) . A significant decrease (P<0.001) is observed in the level of serum Glutathione (GSH) of preclampsia pregnancy (severe and mild to moderate) when compared with normotensive pregnant women , also a significant difference within preclamptic patients (P<0.01)was observed.