title: Contributions from self-renewal and trafficking to the uterine NK cell population of early pregnancy.
abstract: Uterine NK (uNK) cells are abundant in human and murine uteri during decidualization. It is unclear whether precursors of uNK (pre-uNK) cells self-renew or are recruited from other sites. To assess self-renewal of pre-uNK cells, uterine segments from NK cell-competent mice were grafted orthotopically into NK/uNK cell-deficient or wild-type mice. Only in wild-type recipients did decidualized grafts contain uNK cells, indicating that pre-uNK cells do not self-renew in uterus. To identify pre-uNK cell sources, thymus, bone marrow, lymph node, or spleen cells were grafted from virgin or pregnant NK cell-competent donors into mated NK/uNK cell-deficient recipients. Cells from secondary lymphoid tissues of pregnant donors gave high level uNK cell reconstitution, which was independent of chemokine receptors CCR2 or CCR5. Pregnancy-induced changes to lymphocyte-endothelial cell interactions were documented using adhesion of human lymphocytes to frozen mouse tissue sections under shear. A dynamic increase was observed in L-selectin- and alpha(4) integrin-dependent adhesion of CD56(bright) NK cells to decidualizing uterus and in human PBL adhesion to lymph node endothelium. These data support a model that attributes the dramatic increases in human and murine uNK cells during decidualization to precursor cell recruitment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Building No.40, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1. schantak@uoguelph.ca
authors.forename: Sirirak
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chantakru
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Lindsay E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Roach
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Kuziel
authors.forename: Nobuyo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Wan-Chao
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Sharon S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: B Anne
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Croy
mesh_terms: D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000502:physiology; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000276:immunology; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002465:Cell Movement; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D039441:Integrin alpha4; D053631:Interleukin Receptor Common gamma Subunit; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D019041:L-Selectin / Q000502:physiology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology / Q000637:transplantation; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D016513:Mice, SCID; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000276:immunology*; D020395:Receptors, Interleukin-7 / Q000235:genetics; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology / Q000637:transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology / Q000637:transplantation; D014599:Uterus / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000637:transplantation
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C507941:IL2RG protein, human; C507942:Il2rg protein, mouse; D053631:Interleukin Receptor Common gamma Subunit; C499308:Rag2 protein, mouse; D020395:Receptors, Interleukin-7; C064655:V(D)J recombination activating protein 2; D019041:L-Selectin; D039441:Integrin alpha4