The immune system represents a leading pathway of interest in the pathophysiology of preterm birth. The majority of human clinical studies interrogating this pathway have utilized circulating immune biomarkers; however, these concentrations typically reflect only basal production but not key functional properties of the immune system, particularly variation in the pro‐inflammatory response to antigen challenge and the regulation of this response. Thus, in this study, we utilized an ex vivo stimulation protocol that quantifies these processes, and we examined their prospective association with the gestation length and risk of preterm birth.

中文翻译：

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妊娠期母体免疫促炎反应和调节与妊娠长度的前瞻性关联

免疫系统代表了早产病理生理学中感兴趣的主要途径。大多数询问这一途径的人类临床研究都利用了循环免疫生物标志物；然而，这些浓度通常仅反映基础生产，而不反映免疫系统的关键功能特性，特别是对抗原攻击的促炎反应的变化和这种反应的调节。因此，在这项研究中，我们使用了一种量化这些过程的离体刺激方案，并且我们检查了它们与妊娠长度和早产风险的预期关联。