Pre-eclampsia in pregnancies by different fathers: Immunological studies

Abstract

Immunological studies were performed on a woman with severe pre-eclamptic toxaemia in a second pregnancy. This pregnancy followed a normal twin pregnancy by a different father four years earlier. Both fathers were also studied. In the mixed lymphocyte culture the patient's lymphocytes reacted eight times as strongly against father 2's cells as against those from father 1. If studies along these lines are performed when a woman has toxaemic and non-toxaemic pregnancies by different fathers information may be obtained on immunogenetic aetiological factors which may be of more value than that derived from the study of large unselected populations. © 1975, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.