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.