Hypothesis that defects in cervical immunity might be a feature of spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB).
A prospective observational study of 120 pregnancies at risk of SPTB because of the mother’s history.
Cervical leukocytes, cytokines and chemokines were sampled at 12–25 weeks using a cytobrush.
Early SPTB (<34 weeks) lacked cervical macrophages and had low CCL2 (<75 ng/g total protein).