Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is an important, common, and dangerous complication of pregnancy that causes maternal and perinatal illness and is responsible for a high proportion of maternal and infant deaths. PE is associated with increased blood pressure and proteinuria, with a whole host of other potentially serious complications in the mother and fetus. The maternal syndrome in PE is primarily that of generalized dysfunction of the maternal endothelium, and this generalized endothelial dysfunction appears to be part of an exaggerated systemic inflammatory response that involves maternal leukocytes and proinflammatory cytokines.
Objective: This review aimed to study the role of cytokines in preeclampsia.
Methods: The databases were searched for articles published in English in 3 data bases: PubMed, Google scholar and science direct. Also, Boolean operators (and, or, not) had been used such as cytokines and preeclampsia OR cytokines and pregnancy and in peer-reviewed articles between June 1991 and April 2021.
Conclusion: Cytokines can be used as biomarkers for the prediction and better clinical management of preeclampsia in the initial stages. The balanced ratio of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines is essential to regulate the maternal inflammation system throughout pregnancy.