All submissions of the EM system will be redirected to Online Manuscript Submission System. Authors are requested to submit articles directly to Online Manuscript Submission System of respective journal.

Increased CD56+ NK cells and enhanced Th1 responses in human unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion

Author(s): Y. Gao and P.L. Wang

Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is reported to be associated with immune imbalance at the maternal-fetal interface. Immune cells in the decidual tissue are involved in maintaining immune tolerance during pregnancy; however, whether natural killer (NK) and T cells are altered in unexplained RSA (URSA) remains unknown. In this study, we compared the number and percentage of CD56+ NK cells, CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells by flow cytometry in 30 URSA patients and 30 normal pregnant controls. We found that there are a higher proportion of CD4+ T cells and CD16+CD56+ NK cells and a lower number of CD8+ T cells in the decidual tissue of URSA patients compared to normal controls. In addition, the number of T helper type 1 (Th1) cells and the Th1/Th2 ratio were higher in URSA patients compared to normal pregnant controls. In conclusion, our results indicate that the changes in the proportion of local T lymphocyte subsets, NK and Th1 cells, in the maternal-fetal interface may be related to occurrence of URSA.