Conclusion
The regulation of cytokine expression in reproductive tissues is closely
related to both the maintenance of pregnancy and the process of labor
induction. Labor is unlikely to occur spontaneously in patients with low
cytokine levels, again suggesting that inflammation is an essential
component in the initiation of labor. We demonstrated how inflammatory
cervicovaginal cytokines can reflect and predict
the inflammatory ”common pathway”
that leads to labor and propose that these biomarkers (particularly
IL-6) could be used in clinical practice for diagnosis and prediction of
spontaneous labor. Thus, a better understanding of cytokine dynamics
during pregnancy and their connection with labor onset will help in the
clinical assessment of prematurity, the most important challenge to
modern obstetrics.