Beyond Maternal Tolerance: Education of Uterine Natural Killer Cells by Maternal MHC Drives Fetal Growth.

ABSTRACT: Reproductive immunology has moved on from the classical Medawar question of 60 years ago "why doesn't the mother reject the fetus?". Looking beyond fetal-maternal tolerance, modern reproductive immunology focuses on how the maternal immune system supports fetal growth. Maternal uterine natural killer (uNK) cells, in partnership with fetal trophoblast cells, regulate physiological vascular changes in the uterus of pregnant women and mice. These vascular changes are necessary to build the placenta and sustain fetal growth. NK cell functions in the uterus and elsewhere, including anti-viral and anti-tumour immunity mediated mostly by blood NK cells, are modulated by NK cell education, a quantifiable process that determines cellular activation thresholds. This process relies largely on

SUBMITTER: Depierreux DM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9127083 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature