Immunological modes of pregnancy loss: inflammation, immune effectors, and stress

J Kwak‐Kim, S Bao, SK Lee, JW Kim… - American journal of …, 2014 - Wiley Online Library
J Kwak‐Kim, S Bao, SK Lee, JW Kim, A Gilman‐Sachs
American journal of reproductive immunology, 2014Wiley Online Library
Inflammatory immune response plays a key role in reproductive failures such as multiple
implantation failures (MIF), early pregnancy loss, and recurrent pregnancy losses (RPL).
Cellular immune responses particularly mediated by natural killer (NK), and T cells are often
dysregulated in these conditions. Excessive or inappropriate recruitment of peripheral blood
NK cells to the uterus may lead to cytotoxic environment in utero, in which proliferation and
differentiation of trophoblast is hampered. In addition, inadequate angiogenesis by uterine …
Inflammatory immune response plays a key role in reproductive failures such as multiple implantation failures (MIF), early pregnancy loss, and recurrent pregnancy losses (RPL). Cellular immune responses particularly mediated by natural killer (NK), and T cells are often dysregulated in these conditions. Excessive or inappropriate recruitment of peripheral blood NK cells to the uterus may lead to cytotoxic environment in utero, in which proliferation and differentiation of trophoblast is hampered. In addition, inadequate angiogenesis by uterine NK cells often leads to abnormal vascular development and blood flow patterns, which, in turn, leads to increased oxidative stress or ischemic changes in the invading trophoblast. T‐cell abnormalities with increased Th1 and Th17 immunity, and decreased Th2 and T regulatory immune responses may play important roles in RPL and MIF. A possible role of stress in inflammatory immune response is also reviewed.
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