Monteiro Clarice, Kasahara Taissa M, Castro José Roberto, Sacramento Priscila M, Hygino Joana, Centurião Newton, Cassano Tatiane, Lopes Lana M Ferreira, Leite Simone, Silva Vander Guimarães, Gupta Sudhir, Bento Cleonice A M
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology/Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology/Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
J Reprod Immunol. 2017 Jun;121:1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.jri.2017.04.007. Epub 2017 Apr 27.
Pregnancy favors antibody production, and some evidence has suggested a direct effect of estrogen on B cells. The impact of pregnancy on circulating follicular helper T (T) cells, typically identified by the expression of CD45RO and CXCR5, has not been previously investigated. Here, the percentage of T cells, co-expressing or not PD-1, ICOS, or CXCR3 markers was significantly higher in pregnant women (PW) as compared with non-pregnant ones (nPW). Furthermore, the percentage of CXCR3 T cells able to produce IL-6, IL-21, and IL-10 was significantly higher in PW than nPW. Interestingly, anti-CMV and anti-HBs antibody titers were significantly higher in the plasma of PW and were directly correlated with IL-21-producing CXCR3 T cells. Finally, peripheral estrogen levels, but not progesterone, were positively related to either PD-1 CXCR3 T cells or plasma anti-CMV and anti-HBs IgG antibodies. In summary, our data suggests a positive effect of pregnancy on the proportion of CD4 T cell subset specialized in helping B cells. This phenomenon, which could be related to the high estrogen levels produced during pregnancy, may help to explain why pregnancy favor humoral immunity.
妊娠有利于抗体产生，并且一些证据表明雌激素对B细胞有直接作用。妊娠对循环滤泡辅助性T（Th）细胞的影响此前尚未被研究，循环滤泡辅助性T细胞通常通过CD45RO和CXCR5的表达来识别。在此，与未怀孕女性（nPW）相比，共表达或不共表达PD-1、ICOS或CXCR3标志物的T细胞百分比在孕妇（PW）中显著更高。此外，能够产生IL-6、IL-21和IL-10的CXCR3 T细胞百分比在PW中比nPW显著更高。有趣的是，抗巨细胞病毒（CMV）和抗乙肝表面抗原（HBs）抗体滴度在PW血浆中显著更高，并且与产生IL-21的CXCR3 T细胞直接相关。最后，外周雌激素水平而非孕酮水平与PD-1⁺CXCR3⁺ T细胞或血浆抗CMV和抗HBs IgG抗体呈正相关。总之，我们的数据表明妊娠对专门帮助B细胞的CD4 T细胞亚群比例有积极影响。这种现象可能与妊娠期间产生的高雌激素水平有关，这可能有助于解释为什么妊娠有利于体液免疫。
