Serum granulysin is a marker for Th1 type immunity in pre‐eclampsia

SUMMARY Recent studies suggest that pre‐eclampsia is associated with a Th1 predominant state and may be considered a failure of tolerance. Granulysin is a cytotoxic granule protein of natural killer (NK) cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Recently, we developed an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system for detecting serum granulysin, and reported that serum granulysin is a useful marker to evaluate the cell‐mediated immunity. In this study, we show that the serum levels of granulysin were significantly elevated in pre‐eclamptic patients compared with those in normal pregnancy subjects. In addition, the serum granulysin levels in pre‐eclamptic patients were well associated with mean blood pressure, percentage of peripheral blood Th1 cells and Th1/Th2 ratios. The present results suggest that the serum granulysin levels would be a useful and novel serum marker to evaluate the Th1/Th2 balance, especially Th1 type immunity in pre‐eclampsia.