McGrath Emma, Ryan Elizabeth J, Lynch Lydia, Golden-Mason Lucy, Mooney Eoghan, Eogan Maeve, O'Herlihy Colm, O'Farrelly Cliona
Education & Research Centre, St. Vincent's University Hospital Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Am J Reprod Immunol. 2009 Apr;61(4):265-76. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0897.2009.00688.x.
Cycle-dependent fluctuations in natural killer (NK) cell populations in endometrium and circulation may differ, contributing to unexplained infertility.
NK cell phenotypes were determined by flow cytometry in endometrial biopsies and matched blood samples.
While circulating and endometrial T cell populations remained constant throughout the menstrual cycle in fertile and infertile women, circulating NK cells in infertile women increased during the secretory phase. However, increased expression of CD94, CD158b (secretory phase), and CD158a (proliferative phase) by endometrial NK cells from infertile women was observed. These changes were not reflected in the circulation.
In infertile women, changes in circulating NK cell percentages are found exclusively during the secretory phase and not in endometrium; cycle-related changes in NK receptor expression are observed only in infertile endometrium. While having exciting implications for understanding NK cell function in fertility, our data emphasize the difficulty in attaching diagnostic or prognostic significance to NK cell analyses in individual patients.
子宫内膜和循环系统中自然杀伤（NK）细胞群体的周期性波动可能存在差异，这是不明原因不孕症的一个原因。
通过流式细胞术测定子宫内膜活检组织和配对血液样本中的NK细胞表型。
在整个月经周期中，有生育能力和无生育能力的女性的循环和子宫内膜T细胞群体保持恒定，但无生育能力女性的循环NK细胞在分泌期增加。然而，观察到无生育能力女性的子宫内膜NK细胞中CD94、CD158b（分泌期）和CD158a（增殖期）的表达增加。这些变化在循环系统中并未体现。
在无生育能力的女性中，循环NK细胞百分比的变化仅在分泌期出现，而不在子宫内膜中；NK受体表达的周期性相关变化仅在无生育能力的子宫内膜中观察到。虽然这对于理解NK细胞在生育中的功能具有重要意义，但我们的数据强调了在个体患者中对NK细胞分析赋予诊断或预后意义的困难。
