Proportion of peripheral blood and decidual CD4(+) CD25(bright) regulatory T cells in pre-eclampsia.
CD4(+) CD25(bright) regulatory T (T(reg)) cells have been identified as a principle regulator of tolerance during pregnancy. In the setting of pre-eclampsia, however, little is known about the dynamics of these cells. In the current study, we determined CD4(+) CD25(bright) T(reg) cells in the peripheral blood using flow cytometry and forkhead box P3 (FoxP3(+)) cells at the placental bed using immunohistochemical staining. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 38 pre-eclamptic cases (17 cases Japanese, 21 cases Polish), 40 normal late pregnancy subjects (20 subjects Japanese, 20 subjects Polish), and 21 non-pregnant healthy controls (10 subjects Japanese, 11 subjects Polish) were included. We found the percentage of CD25(bright) cells within the CD4(+) T cell population in PBMC was reduced significantly in both Japanese and Polish pre-eclamptic cases than in normal pregnancy subjects (P < 0.001) and non-pregnant healthy controls (P < 0.001). Also, the percentage of FoxP3(+) cells within CD3(+) T cells in the placental bed biopsy samples of pre-eclamptic cases were decreased compared to those in normal pregnancy subjects. These findings suggest that a decreased number of T(reg) cells was present in pre-eclampsia, and these changes might break the maternal tolerance to the fetus.
Sasaki
Y
Y
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
Darmochwal-Kolarz
D
D
Suzuki
D
D
Sakai
M
M
Ito
M
M
Shima
T
T
Shiozaki
A
A
Rolinski
J
J
Saito
S
S
D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D003656:Decidua / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit / Q000378:metabolism; D010920:Placenta / Q000276:immunology; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000276:immunology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*
C418974:FOXP3 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; D053645:Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit