Evidence of the involvement of caspase-1 under physiologic and pathologic cellular stress during human pregnancy: A link between the inflammasome and parturition

Figures & data

Table I.  Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with preterm labor.

	Gestational age at amniocentesis (weeks)	Gestational age at delivery (weeks)	Birth weight (grams)	Maternal age (years)
PTL delivered at term	31.8 (28.6–33.8)	38.7 (37.9–40.1)	3020 (2640–3317)	20 (18–22)
PTL delivered preterm, no IAI	28.4 (23.2–31.3)	34.2 (31–35.7)	1956 (1730–2570)	24 (22–28)
PTL delivered preterm with IAI	26.6 (24.4–32.2)	26.9 (25.5–32.8)	960 (795–1964)	26 (23–32.5)

PTL, preterm labor; IAI, intra-amniotic infection/inflammation. Results are median (inter-quartile range).

Figure 1. Amniotic fluid concentrations of caspase-1 in patients at term. The median amniotic fluid caspase-1 concentration was significantly higher in women in spontaneous labor at term than in those not in labor (term in labor: median 10.5 pg/mL, range 0.0–666.0 vs. term not in labor: median 5.99 pg/mL, range 0.0–237.4; p < 0.05).

Figure 2. Amniotic fluid concentrations of caspase-1 in women with preterm labor. Among patients with spontaneous PTL, those with intra-amniotic infection/inflammation (median 41.4 pg/mL, range 0.0–515) had a significantly higher median amniotic fluid caspase-1 concentration than those without intra-amniotic infection/inflammation who delivered preterm (median 0.0 pg/mL, range 0.0–78.4) and than those who delivered at term (median 0.0 pg/mL, range 0.0–199.5); p < 0.001 for both comparisons.