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Liaison between natural killer cells and dendritic cells in human gestation

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 11, pages 449–455 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

A successful pregnancy relies on immunological adaptations that allow the fetus to grow and develop in the uterus, despite being recognized by maternal immune cells. Among several immunocompetent cell types present within the human maternal/fetal interface, DC-SIGN+ dendritic cells (DCs) and CD56+ natural killer (NK) cells are of major importance for early pregnancy maintenance, not only generating maternal immunological tolerance but also regulating stromal cell differentiation. Previous reports show the presence of NK–DC cell conjugates in first trimester human decidua, suggesting that these cells may play a role in the modulation of the local immune response within the uterus. While effective immunity is necessary to protect the mother from harmful pathogens, some form of tolerance must be activated to avoid an immune response against fetal antigens. This review article discusses current evidence concerning the functions of DC and NK cells in pregnancy and their liaison in human decidua.

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Acknowledgements

The authors apologize to the many authors whose excellent papers could not be cited in this brief review. ITG received the Charitè Habilitation Fellowship. ELD is supported by a contract from University of Granada (Spain) and RMF is supported by a Sara Borrel contract from Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain).

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  1. Ester Leno-Durán and Raquel Muñoz-Fernández: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Biopatología y Medicina Regenerativa, Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad de Granada, Armilla, Granada, Spain

    Ester Leno-Durán, Enrique García Olivares & Irene Tirado-González

  2. Instituto de Parasitología y Biomedicina ‘López Neyra', Centro superior de investigaciones científicas, Armilla, Granada, Spain

    Raquel Muñoz-Fernández

  3. Hospital Universitario San Cecilio, Granada, Spain

    Enrique García Olivares

  4. Medicine University of Berlin, Charité Centre 12 Internal Medicine and Dermatology, Berlin, Germany

    Irene Tirado-González

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  1. Ester Leno-Durán
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  3. Enrique García Olivares
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  4. Irene Tirado-González
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Correspondence to Irene Tirado-González.

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Leno-Durán, E., Muñoz-Fernández, R., García Olivares, E. et al. Liaison between natural killer cells and dendritic cells in human gestation. Cell Mol Immunol 11, 449–455 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2014.36

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