Uterine NK Cells in Primate Pregnancy

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ABSTRACT The immunological response to placental MHC class I expression is considered to be important, yet neither the mechanisms nor the significance of this response in humans or nonhuman primates is well understood. We have recently shown that in pregnant rhesus monkeys passively immunized against Mamu-AG, the rhesus nonclassical trophoblast MHC class I molecule thought to be a homolog of HLA-G, there is a broad developmental delay in villous growth and vascularization of the placenta, a disruption of the modification of maternal decidual vessels by invasive extravillous trophoblasts, and altered decidual leukocyte responses to implantation. Hypothesizing that maternal NK cells are critical in the recognition of placental MHC, we now have pilot data demonstrating that NK cell immunodepletion has a negative impact on pregnancy outcome, causing spontaneous abortion within a week after anti-CD16 or anti-CD8 treatment. We propose that this is evidence for an important role of placental MHC class I molecules in the maternal immunological response to pregnancy in primates, and will further study the mechanisms and significance of these responses with two specific aims: