title: Interferon-gamma expression in natural killer cells and natural killer T cells is suppressed in early pregnancy.
abstract: Recent study has suggested that innate immune system might play an important role in pregnancy progression. In this study, to investigate whether NK cells and NKT cells, instead of T cells, are the dominant populations of peripheral blood in early pregnancy, flow cytometry was used to detect the percentage and intracellular cytokine expressions of T cells, NK cells, NKT cells in peripheral blood of non-pregnant women and early pregnant women. In our result, the percentages of NK cells and NKT cells were significantly increased in pregnancy compared to non-pregnancy. However, the percentage of T cells was not changed. We did not detect the Th2-dominance of total lymphocytes or T cells in peripheral blood of early pregnant women and there were also no significant changes of type 1 and type 2 cytokines in T cells, but IFN-gamma production in both NK and NKT cells was decreased in early pregnancy. These results suggest that the innate immune system including NK cells and NKT cells should play a pivotal role in pregnancy progression. Type 1/type 2 shift mechanisms in innate immune system during the human early pregnancy should be paid more attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
authors.forename: Yongyun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Dingqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000276:immunology*; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D007371:Interferon-gamma