Calcitriol inhibits interleukin-10 expression in cultured human trophoblasts under normal and inflammatory conditions

Abstract Preeclampsia is associated with systemic inflammation and increased expression of placental Th1-cytokines. IL-10 and calcitriol inhibit proinflammatory cytokines expression in human placenta helping to fetal allograft toleration. Regulation of placental IL-10 by calcitriol and Th-1 cytokines has not yet been fully elucidated. Since it is believed that calcitriol promotes a shift from a Th1- to a Th2 profile, we hypothesized that it would stimulate IL-10 in a normal and an inflammatory scenario to conjointly restrain inflammation. Therefore, we investigated calcitriol effects upon IL-10 expression in cultured human trophoblasts obtained from normal (NT) and preeclamptic (PE) pregnancies. Similar studies in the presence of TNF-α (as an inflammatory stressor) were also performed. Calcitriol dose-dependently inhibited IL-10 expression in NT, PE and TNF-α-challenged trophoblasts ( P