Main Findings
We used a standardized clinical-based reconstruction of the first stage of spontaneous labor to explore CVF cytokine expression as a proxy of inflammatory processes occurring in the intrauterine/choriodecidual compartment. Here, we show that the progression of clinical manifestations is correlated with the activation of the inflammatory response during labor, since there is a positive correlation between CVF pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, specifically IL-1β and IL-6, and initial clinical manifestations of labor. These results support the hypothesis that the cervicovaginal milieu can reflect and predict the inflammatory intrauterine processes associated to human labor and can be used to explore potential biomarkers for term and preterm labor;15–17,10 in addition to being a minimally invasive technique.