IngentaConnect Antigen-Presenting Cells and Materno-Fetal Tolerance: An Emerging...

Authors: Laskarin, Gordana¹; Kämmerer, Ulrike²; Rukavina, Daniel¹; Thomson, Angus W³; Fernandez, Nelson⁴; Blois, Sandra M

Source: American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, Volume 58, Number 3, September 2007 , pp. 255-267(13)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Abstract:

During pregnancy, a delicate balance of innate and adaptive immune responses at the maternal-fetal interface promotes survival of the semi-allogeneic embryo and, at the same time, allows effective immunity to protect the mother from environmental pathogens. As in other tissues, antigen handling and processing in the decidualized endometrium constitutes a primary event in the onset of immune responses and is therefore likely to determine their stimulatory or tolerogenic nature. Maternal antigen-presenting cells [macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs)] are scattered throughout the decidualized endometrium during all stages of pregnancy and appear to be important players in this feto-maternal immune adjustment. This review focuses on the characterization of decidual macrophages and DCs, as well as their involvement in cell-cell interactions within the decidual leukocyte network, which are likely to influence uterine and placental homeostasis as well as the local maternal immune responses to the fetus during pregnancy.

Keywords: Dendritic cells; fetal tolerance; macrophages; pregnancy

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0897.2007.00511.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Physiology and Immunology, Medical Faculty, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia; 2: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany; 3: Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute and Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 4: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, UK;

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Antigen-Presenting Cells and Materno-Fetal Tolerance: An Emerging Role for Dendritic Cells