title: Defect in lipid rafts results in failed tolerance induction at the maternal-fetal interface: a possible cause for the recurrent spontaneous abortion.
abstract: The pregnancy is the successful induction and maintenance of maternal tolerance to semi-allogeneic fetus. As a failure result, recurrent spontaneous abortion occurs in about 1-2% of women of reproductive age, defined as the loss of three or more consecutive pregnancies. The mechanism of recurrent spontaneous abortion is often elusive. Recently, mounting evidence suggests that HLA-G induced suppressive uterine natural killer (uNK) cells play an important role in the maternal-fetal tolerance and their abnormalities are responsible for recurrent spontaneous abortion. However, there are some clinical cases of recurrent spontaneous abortion could not be detected of the HLA-G alterations, while their uNK cells showed considerable cytolytic activities against fetus. Thus we hypothesize that lipid rafts, specialized micro-domains in plasma membrane, is of vital importance in the HLA-G-NK cells interactions and the accompanied suppressive induction process. We further hypothesize that the defect in lipid rafts may result in failed tolerance induction at the maternal-fetal interface, which would be a novel explanation for the occurrence of recurrent spontaneous abortion. The hypothesis can be practically evaluated by in vitro experiments and clinical tests. To sum up, this hypothesis proposes a new mechanism in the NK cells suppressive induction. Also the hypothesis may provide new vision in the drug development and disease control of recurrent spontaneous abortion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1277 Jiefang Road, Wuhan 430022, China.
authors.forename: Li-Juan
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zou
mesh_terms: D000026:Abortion, Habitual / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D059951:HLA-G Antigens; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange / Q000276:immunology*; D021962:Membrane Microdomains / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011247:Pregnancy; D014599:Uterus / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens; D059951:HLA-G Antigens; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I