Abstract: Objective： To explore the changes of cytocines in pregnancy for systemic lupus erythematosus and guide the clinical treatment. Methods: We select 53 single pregnancy patients with systemic lupus erythematosus as study group and 50 normal single pregnancy pregnant women as control group. The serum IL-1α，IL-1β，IL-2，IL-6，IL-8，IL-10，IL-12p70，IFN-γ and TNF-α were detected by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: The Th1 cytokines （IL-1α，IL-1β，IL-2，IL-8，IL-12 p70，IFN-γ and TNF-α） significantly decreased in late pregnancy for healthy women comparing with the early pregnancy （P＜0.05）. But IL-6 and IL-10 were not obvious changes （P＞0.05）. In SLE patients，Th1 type only IL-1α decreased obviously in late pregnancy（P=0.001），and other Th1 cytokines and Th2 cytokines （IL-6，IL-10） had no obvious changes. IL-10 of SLE patients in early and late pregnancies were significantly higher than that of control group （both P=0.000）. In late pregnancy for control group，the ratio of IFN -γ/IL-6 was significantly lower than that of early pregnancy （0.65±0.22 vs. 1.05±0.17，t=10.17，P=0.000）. The IFN-γ/IL-6 ratio in SLE patients had no significant difference（0.53±0.16 vs. 0.48±0.18，t=1.51，P=0.067）. The ratio of IFN -γ/IL - 10 in early pregnancy and late pregnancy for healthy women were significantly higher than those of SLE patients （2.16±0.47 vs. 0.79±0.13，t=19.91，P=0.000；3.35±0.96 vs. 1.26±0.26，t=14.89，P=0.000）. Conclusions: The changes of cytokines in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus during pregnancy are complex and diverse. The level of IL-10 in SLE patients was significantly higher than that of control group. The monitoring of cytokines in SLE during pregnancy helps to determine disease activity and judgement condition change in SLE.

Key words: Lupus erythematosus, systemic, Pregnant women, Cytokines