Wu Xiaoyan, Wei Haiming, Zhang Jianhong, Tian Zhigang
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230027, Anhui, China.
Cell Mol Immunol. 2006 Apr;3(2):131-7.
Natural killer (NK) cells are bone marrow-derived lymphocytes. They produce cytokines that regulate the development of acquired immunity. In view of their accumulation at the maternal-fetal interface, uterine natural killer (uNK) cells are also thought to play essential roles during pregnancy. Our results compared the differences of cytokine secretion profile by NK cells in uterine endometrium, liver, spleen and peripheral blood, and focused on the cytokines secretion by uNK cells. It was demonstrated that the expression of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha in uterine endometrium of pregnant mice are lower than those in liver, but they increase significantly during pregnancy. Our study showed that the number of uNK cells was increased significantly during pregnancy. They produced more IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha than other organ-derived NK cells, and they also secreted minor amount of IL-4 and IL-5. The results indicated that the IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha produced by uNK cells ensured a successful pregnancy progress.
自然杀伤（NK）细胞是源自骨髓的淋巴细胞。它们产生调节获得性免疫发育的细胞因子。鉴于其在母胎界面的聚集，子宫自然杀伤（uNK）细胞也被认为在妊娠期间发挥着重要作用。我们的研究结果比较了子宫内膜、肝脏、脾脏和外周血中NK细胞分泌细胞因子谱的差异，并重点关注了uNK细胞的细胞因子分泌情况。结果表明，妊娠小鼠子宫内膜中干扰素-γ（IFN-γ）和肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）的表达低于肝脏，但在妊娠期间显著增加。我们的研究表明，妊娠期间uNK细胞数量显著增加。它们比其他器官来源的NK细胞产生更多的IFN-γ和TNF-α，并且还分泌少量的白细胞介素-4（IL-4）和白细胞介素-5（IL-5）。结果表明，uNK细胞产生的IFN-γ和TNF-α确保了妊娠的顺利进行。
