title: Accumulation of IL-17-positive cells in decidua of inevitable abortion cases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Th17 cells, a new subset of helper T cells, have been focused on as a producer pro-inflammatory cytokines. It is, however, still unknown how Th17 cells affect pregnancy outcome. We investigated the expression of IL-17-producing cells in human spontaneous abortion.
  
  
  METHODS
  IL-17 expression was analyzed in decidual tissues among normal pregnancy, missed abortion, and inevitable abortion cases by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  IL-17+ cells were accumulated in decidua and were detected in decidual CD4+ T cells and few decidual CD8+ T cells in spontaneous abortion cases. The number of decidual IL-17+ cells in inevitable abortion cases involving active genital bleeding was significantly higher than that in normal pregnancy cases (P < 0.05). On the other hand, there were no significant differences in the numbers of decidual IL-17+ cells between missed abortion cases and normal pregnancy subjects. Furthermore, the number of IL-17+ cells was positively correlated with the number of neutrophils in spontaneous abortion cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IL-17+ cells might be involved in the induction of inflammation in the late stage of abortion, but not in the early stage of abortion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
authors.forename: Akitoshi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shima
authors.forename: Nguyen Duy
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Bac
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hidaka
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saito
mesh_terms: D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000276:immunology*; D003656:Decidua / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011247:Pregnancy; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D020381:Interleukin-17