| 1. |
- Kaipe, Helen, et al.
(författare)
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MAIT Cells at the Fetal-Maternal Interface During Pregnancy
- 2020
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Immunology. - : FRONTIERS MEDIA SA. - 1664-3224. ; 11
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- One of the main functions of the human placenta is to provide a barrier between the fetal and maternal blood circulations, where gas exchange and transfer of nutrients to the developing fetus take place. Despite being a barrier, there is a multitude of crosstalk between maternal immune cells and fetally derived semi-allogeneic trophoblast cells. Therefore, the maternal immune system has a difficult task to both tolerate the fetus but at the same time also defend the mother and the fetus from infections. Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are an increasingly recognized subset of T cells with anti-microbial functions that get activated in the context of non-polymorphic MR1 molecules, but also in response to inflammation. MAIT cells accumulate at term pregnancy in the maternal blood that flows into the intervillous space inside the placenta. Chemotactic factors produced by the placenta may be involved in recruiting and retaining particular immune cell subsets, including MAIT cells. In this Mini-Review, we describe what is known about MAIT cells during pregnancy and discuss the potential biological functions of MAIT cells at the fetal-maternal interface. Since MAIT cells have anti-microbial and tissue-repairing functions, but lack alloantigen reactivity, they could play an important role in protecting the fetus from bacterial infections and maintaining tissue homeostasis without risks of mediating harmful responses toward semi-allogenic fetal tissues.
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| 2. |
- Solders, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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Maternal Adaptive Immune Cells in Decidua Parietalis Display a More Activated and Coinhibitory Phenotype Compared to Decidua Basalis
- 2017
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Ingår i: Stem Cells International. - : Hindawi Limited. - 1687-9678 .- 1687-966X. ; 2017
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2017 Martin Solders et al. The maternal part of the placenta, the decidua, consists of maternal immune cells, decidual stromal cells, and extravillous fetal trophoblasts. In a successful pregnancy, these cell compartments interact to provide an intricate balance between fetal tolerance and antimicrobial defense. These processes are still poorly characterized in the two anatomically different decidual tissues, basalis and parietalis. We examined immune cells from decidua basalis and parietalis from term placentas (n=15) with flow cytometry. By using multivariate discriminant analysis, we found a clear separation between the two decidual compartments based on the 81 investigated parameters. Decidua parietalis lymphocytes displayed a more activated phenotype with a higher expression of coinhibitory markers than those isolated from basalis and contained higher frequencies of T regulatory cells. Decidua basalis contained higher proportions of monocytes, B cells, and mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells. The basalis B cells were more immature, and parietalis MAIT cells showed a more activated phenotype. Conventional T cells, NK cells, and MAIT cells from both compartments potently responded with the production of interferon-γ and/or cytotoxic molecules in response to stimulation. To conclude, leukocytes in decidua basalis and parietalis displayed remarkable phenotypic disparities, indicating that the corresponding stromal microenvironments provide different immunoregulatory signals.
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| 3. |
- Vikberg, Sara, et al.
(författare)
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Labour promotes systemic mobilisation of monocytes, T cell activation and local secretion of chemotactic factors in the intervillous space of the placenta
- 2023
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Immunology. - : FRONTIERS MEDIA SA. - 1664-3224. ; 14
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- During pregnancy, maternal blood circulates through the intervillous space of the placenta and the reciprocal interactions between foetal tissues and maternal immune cells makes the intervillous space a unique immunological niche. Labour is characterised by a proinflammatory response in the myometrium, but the relationship between local and systemic changes during the onset of labour remains elusive. We here aimed to investigate how the systemic and intervillous circulatory systems are affected during labour from an immunological point of view. We report that the proportion of monocytes is dramatically higher in peripheral (PB), intervillous blood (IVB) and decidua in labouring (n = 14) compared to non-labouring women (n = 15), suggesting that labour leads to both a systemic and local mobilisation of monocytes. Labour was associated with a relative increase of effector memory T cells in the intervillous space compared to the periphery, and MAIT cells and T cells showed an elevated expression of activation markers both in PB and IVB. Intervillous monocytes consisted to a higher degree of CD14(+)CD16(+) intermediate monocytes compared to peripheral monocytes, independently of mode of delivery, and displayed an altered phenotypic expression pattern. A proximity extension assay analysis of 168 proteins revealed that several proteins associated to myeloid cell migration and function, including CCL2 and M-CSF, were upregulated in IVB plasma in labouring women. Thus, the intervillous space could be a bridging site for the communication between the placenta and the periphery, which contribute to monocyte mobilisation and generation of inflammatory reactions during spontaneous labour.
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