TY - JOUR
T1 - Uterine NK cells in murine pregnancy
AU - Bilinski, M. J.
AU - Thorne, J. G.
AU - Oh, M. J.
AU - Leonard, S.
AU - Murrant, C.
AU - Tayade, C.
AU - Croy, B. A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Drs M Adams, of Kingston, ON, Canada and IH Sarelius, of Rochester, NY, USA for their encouragement and assistance in the blood pressure recording and intravital microscopy experiments. These studies were enabled by funds from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Canada, Canadian Institutes for Health Research and The Canada Research Chairs program. The authors report no financial or commercial conflicts of interest.
PY - 2008/2
Y1 - 2008/2
N2 - Murine uterine natural killer (uNK) cells are transient, short-lived, terminally differentiated lymphocytes found in decidualized endometrium. Cells expressing natural killer cell surface markers are present in uteri of infant mice. Terminal uNK cell differentiation coincides with mesometrial decidual development subsequent to blastocyst implantation and begins about gestation day 5. uNK cells proliferate rapidly and, within 3 days, senescent uNK cells appear in normal implantation sites. Mid-gestation, senescent cells become dominant and uNK cell numbers decline until term when remaining cells are shed with the placenta. Transplantable uNK cell progenitors occur outside the uterus, suggesting that blood cell homing augments any in-utero progenitors. Early in healthy pregnancies, uNK cells produce cytokines and angiogenic molecules. Their lytic capacity in normal gestation and in pregnancy failure is incompletely defined. A significant shift recently occurred in thinking about major uNK cell functions. Activated uNK cells are now considered critical for appropriate endometrial angiogenesis in early implantation site development and in non-gestational endometrium. Because analogous cells appear in the endometria of women during each menstrual cycle and become abundant in early pregnancy, studies involving experimental pregnancy termination in genetically manipulated mice continue to have great importance for understanding regulation at the human maternal-fetal interface.
AB - Murine uterine natural killer (uNK) cells are transient, short-lived, terminally differentiated lymphocytes found in decidualized endometrium. Cells expressing natural killer cell surface markers are present in uteri of infant mice. Terminal uNK cell differentiation coincides with mesometrial decidual development subsequent to blastocyst implantation and begins about gestation day 5. uNK cells proliferate rapidly and, within 3 days, senescent uNK cells appear in normal implantation sites. Mid-gestation, senescent cells become dominant and uNK cell numbers decline until term when remaining cells are shed with the placenta. Transplantable uNK cell progenitors occur outside the uterus, suggesting that blood cell homing augments any in-utero progenitors. Early in healthy pregnancies, uNK cells produce cytokines and angiogenic molecules. Their lytic capacity in normal gestation and in pregnancy failure is incompletely defined. A significant shift recently occurred in thinking about major uNK cell functions. Activated uNK cells are now considered critical for appropriate endometrial angiogenesis in early implantation site development and in non-gestational endometrium. Because analogous cells appear in the endometria of women during each menstrual cycle and become abundant in early pregnancy, studies involving experimental pregnancy termination in genetically manipulated mice continue to have great importance for understanding regulation at the human maternal-fetal interface.
KW - Blood pressure
KW - Chemokines
KW - Endometrial angiogenesis
KW - Intravital microscopy
KW - Lymphocyte differentiation
KW - Progesterone receptor
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=39749184924&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S1472-6483(10)60577-9
DO - 10.1016/S1472-6483(10)60577-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 18284876
AN - SCOPUS:39749184924
SN - 1472-6483
VL - 16
SP - 218
EP - 226
JO - Reproductive BioMedicine Online
JF - Reproductive BioMedicine Online
IS - 2
ER -