Potential role of macrophages as immunoregulators of pregnancy
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BioMed Central
Open Access
Review
Potential role of macrophages as immunoregulators of pregnancy Gil Mor* and Vikki M Abrahams Address: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA Email: Gil Mor* - [email protected]; Vikki M Abrahams - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 02 December 2003 Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology 2003, 1:119
Received: 28 July 2003 Accepted: 02 December 2003
This article is available from: http://www.rbej.com/content/1/1/119 © 2003 Mor and Abrahams; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
Abstract The role of the maternal immune system during pregnancy has focused mainly on the aspect of immune tolerance to the invading trophoblast and, therefore, fetus. While this is a critical aspect of reproductive immunology, it is also important to consider the function of the maternal immune system in the promotion of implantation and maintenance of pregnancy. Apoptosis or cell death is not the final stage in tissue development. The quick and effective removal of apoptotic cells by tissue macrophages represents a vital process preventing "leak" of self-antigens and promoting the production of proliferative/survival factors. One of the key requirements of apoptotic cell clearance is the resolution of inflammatory conditions, which, as in the case of pregnancy, may have lethal consequences. This review will focus on decidual macrophages and their role on apoptosis and cell clearance during pregnancy.
Introduction The role of the maternal immune system during pregnancy has focused mainly on the aspect of immune tolerance to the invading trophoblast and, therefore, fetus. While this is a critical aspect of reproductive immunology, it is also important to consider the function of the maternal immune system in the promotion of implantation and maintenance of pregnancy. This review will focus on decidual macrophages and their role on apoptosis and cell clearance during pregnancy.
of implantation [5,2,6,7] and unlike NK cells, remain high throughout pregnancy [2,8]. This evidence suggests that the innate immune system is not indifferent to the fetus and may have a role not only in host protection to infections, but also as important players in the feto-maternal immune adjustment. An important aspect in this process is the establishment of an adequate microenvironment that will promote cell grow and will inhibit hazardous inflammatory immune reactions.
Microenvironment of the implantation site Leucocytes at the implantation site During normal pregnancy the decidua is populated by a variety of leucocytes [1], however, cells of the innate immune system seem to dominate this tissue since the levels of lymphocytes are relatively low (1–3%) [2]. At the time of implantation, many of the leucocytes are NK cells, expressing a phenotype dist
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