Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2003 Aug;59(2):175-91.
doi: 10.1016/s0165-0378(03)00046-9.

Update on pathways regulating the activation of uterine Natural Killer cells, their interactions with decidual spiral arteries and homing of their precursors to the uterus

B Anne Croy  1 , Souad Esadeg, Sirirak Chantakru, Marianne van den Heuvel, Valdemar A Paffaro, Hong He, Gordon P Black, Ali A Ashkar, Yasuo Kiso, Jianhong Zhang
Affiliations
Review

Update on pathways regulating the activation of uterine Natural Killer cells, their interactions with decidual spiral arteries and homing of their precursors to the uterus

B Anne Croy et al. J Reprod Immunol. 2003 Aug.

Abstract

Virgin adult C57Bl/6J mouse uterus contains a population of small, non-granulated Natural Killer (NK) cells with balanced expression of NK cell activating and inhibiting LY49 receptors. Coincident with blastocyst implantation and decidualization, uterine (u)NK cells become activated. The surface glycoslyation of uNK changes, the cells proliferate and they induce production of interferon (IFN)gamma, perforin, serine esterases and other molecules, including angiogenic factors. Mouse strains genetically ablated in uNK cells fail to undergo modification of spiral artery segments that branch from the uterine artery and feed into the placenta and these mice do not sustain a robust decidualization response. IFN-gamma is thought, from bone marrow transplantation and therapeutic studies, to be the key uNK-cell derived mediator regulating gene expression in vascular and decidual tissues. Here, we review recent studies showing that IL-15 is the critical cytokine controlling uNK cell differentiation and that uNK cells are activated by either IL-12 or IL-18 and by other factors when both IL-12 and IL-18 are genetically absent from implantation sites. We address possible roles of the IFN-gamma regulated gene alpha2-macroglobulin (alpha2-M) in regulation of the position of fetal trophoblast within the walls of the spiral arteries, and we discuss approaches that have been successful in evaluating mechanisms involved in homing of mouse uNK cell precursors to the uterus. These approaches maybe applicable to studies in women. Our studies show that complex immuno-physiological events contribute to spiral artery modification by mid-gestation in mice.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources