Reproductive Endocrinology Centre, Dongfang Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 6 Fangxingyuan 1 Qu, Fengtai District, Beijing 100078, China.
School of Chinese Materia Medica, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 6 Zhonghuan South Road, Wangjing, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100102, China.
Int J Endocrinol. 2014;2014:393707. doi: 10.1155/2014/393707. Epub 2014 Mar 26.
The endometrium contains a population of immune cells that undergo changes during implantation and pregnancy. The majority of these cells are uterine natural killer (uNK) cells; however, it is unclear how these cells interact with endometrial epithelial cells. Therefore, we investigated the paracrine effects of the uNK cell-secretion medium on the gene expression profile of endometrial epithelial cells in vitro through microarray analysis. Our results, which were verified by qRT-PCR and western blot, revealed that soluble factors from uNK cells alter the gene expression profiles of epithelial cells. The upregulated genes included interleukin-15 (IL-15) and interleukin-15 receptor alpha (IL-15RA), which result in a loop that stimulates uNK cell proliferation. In addition, vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 10 (CXCL-10) were also determined to be upregulated in epithelial cells, which suggests that uNK cells work synergistically with epithelial cells to support implantation and pregnancy. In addition, oriental herbal medicines have been used to treat infertility since ancient times; however, we failed to find that Zi Dan Yin can regulate these endometrial paracrine effects.
子宫内膜包含一群在着床和怀孕过程中发生变化的免疫细胞。这些细胞中的大多数是子宫自然杀伤 (uNK) 细胞；然而，这些细胞如何与子宫内膜上皮细胞相互作用尚不清楚。因此，我们通过微阵列分析研究了 uNK 细胞分泌液对体外子宫内膜上皮细胞基因表达谱的旁分泌作用。我们的结果通过 qRT-PCR 和 Western blot 进行了验证，表明 uNK 细胞的可溶性因子改变了上皮细胞的基因表达谱。上调的基因包括白细胞介素 15 (IL-15) 和白细胞介素 15 受体 α (IL-15RA)，这导致了刺激 uNK 细胞增殖的循环。此外，还确定血管内皮生长因子 C (VEGF-C) 和趋化因子 (C-X-C 基序) 配体 10 (CXCL-10) 在上皮细胞中也上调，这表明 uNK 细胞与上皮细胞协同作用以支持着床和怀孕。此外，自古以来，东方草药就被用于治疗不孕症；然而，我们未能发现紫丹参能调节这些子宫内膜的旁分泌作用。
