Leptin, IL-6 and TNF-α levels in umbilical cord blood of healthy term newborns in relation to mode of delivery

Abstract

In the development of the foetal immune system, cytokines play an important role in its function. Therefore, we sought to determine whether the mode of delivery affects the expression of leptin, IL-6 and TNF-α in umbilical cord blood in healthy term newborns. We collected 125 samples of umbilical cord blood to analyse leptin, IL-6 y TNF-α levels with multiplex immunoassay (MIA). The samples were classified according to mode of delivery: vaginal delivery (VD) and caesarean section (CS). Leptin and IL-6 had higher concentrations in umbilical cord blood in VD than in CS: 42.55 ng/ml (11.92–104.28) versus 35.20 ng/ml (3.26–9326.76), p  =  0.039; 9.32 pg/ml (1.13–2020.31) versus 3.81 pg/ml (0.52–834.69) p < 0.001, respectively. Also, a weak correlation between TNF-α and IL-6 was found (r = 0.238, p = 0.007). The most important finding in our study was the differential concentrations of leptin and IL-6 according to mode of delivery.

Keywords::

• Leptin
• IL-6
• TNF-α
• cord blood
• term newborn
• mode of delivery

Acknowledgements

The authors express their heartfelt gratitude to Gloria Alejandra Jasso de la Peña and Ramón Valdez Leal, members of the staff of the Endocrinology Laboratory of the ‘Dr. José Eleuterio González’ University Hospital for their help in the analysis of cytokines and to Sergio Lozano-Rodriguez, MD and Michael D. Phillips, B.A. for their help in translating the manuscript.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.