Up-and-down immunity of pregnancy in humans.
Fiche publication
Date publication
juillet 2017
Journal
F1000Research
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr BENSUSSAN Armand
Tous les auteurs :
Le Bouteiller P, Bensussan A
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
One part of the human placenta in early pregnancy is particularly important for local immunity: the , which is transformed endometrium located at the site of embryo implantation This placental bed tissue contains both maternal uterine immune cells, including decidual natural killer (NK) cells, the dominant leukocyte population exhibiting a unique phenotype, and fetal extravillous trophoblast which comes into direct contact with maternal decidual cells To establish a successful placental development and healthy pregnancy outcome, the maternal immune system must tolerate paternal antigens expressed by trophoblast cells yet remain efficient for clearing any local pathogen infection. This review deals mainly with decidual NK cells. A key element, among others, to achieve such dual functions is the direct interaction between activating and inhibitory receptors expressed by decidual NK cells and their specific ligands presented by trophoblast or other decidual cells. Depending whether maternal decidual cells and trophoblast are infected by viruses, the balance between activating and inhibitory receptor signals mediated by decidual NK cell-trophoblast cross-talk results in tolerance (healthy pregnancy) or specific killing (pathogen-infected cells).
Mots clés
decidua basalis, immune tolerance, maternal immune system
Référence
F1000Res. 2017 07 25;6:1216