Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Tilburgs, Tamara
• Schonkeren, Dorrith
• Eikmans, Michael
• Nagtzaam, Nicole M
• Datema, Gert
• Swings, Godelieve M
• Prins, Frans
• van Lith, Jan M
• van der Mast, Barbara J
• Roelen, Dave L
• Scherjon, Sicco A
• Claas, Frans H

Titel

Human decidual tissue contains differentiated CD8+ effector-memory T cells with unique properties

Ist Teil von

• The Journal of immunology (1950), 2010-10, Vol.185 (7), p.4470-4477

Ort / Verlag

United States

Erscheinungsjahr

2010

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• During pregnancy, maternal lymphocytes at the fetal-maternal interface play a key role in the immune acceptance of the allogeneic fetus. Recently, CD4(+)CD25(bright) regulatory T cells have been shown to be concentrated in decidual tissue, where they are able to suppress fetus-specific and nonspecific immune responses. Decidual CD8(+) T cells are the main candidates to recognize and respond to fetal HLA-C at the fetal-maternal interface, but data on the characteristics of these cells are limited. In this study we examined the decidual and peripheral CD8(+) T cell pool for CD45RA, CCR7, CD28, and CD27 expression, using nine-color flow cytometry. Our data demonstrate that decidual CD8(+) T cells mainly consist of differentiated CD45RA(-)CCR7(-) effector-memory (EM) cells, whereas unprimed CD45RA(+)CCR7(+) naive cells are almost absent. Compared with peripheral blood EM CD8(+) T cells, the decidual EM CD8(+) T cells display a significantly reduced expression of perforin and granzyme B, which was confirmed by immunohistochemistry of decidual tissue sections. Interestingly, quantitative PCR analysis demonstrates an increased perforin and granzyme B mRNA content in decidual EM CD8(+) T cells in comparison with peripheral blood EM CD8(+) T cells. The presence of high levels of perforin and granzyme B mRNA in decidual EM T cells suggests that decidual CD8(+) T cells pursue alternative means of EM cell differentiation that may include a blockade of perforin and granzyme B mRNA translation into functional perforin and granzyme B proteins. Regulation of decidual CD8(+) T cell differentiation may play a crucial role in maternal immune tolerance to the allogeneic fetus.