Intrinsic susceptibility of mouse trophoblasts to natural killer cell-mediated attack in vivo

Protecting the fetus and placenta from the maternal immune system has long been considered a function of placental trophoblasts. Here, we present two related lines of evidence that contradict this assumption. First, we show that transformed mouse trophoblast cell lines akin to human choriocarcinomas form tumors in syngeneic and immunodeficient mice, yet are rejected in immunocompetent allogeneic mice. Second, we show that wild-type trophoblasts are rapidly killed after i.v. injection into allogeneic mice. In both cases, the pattern of trophoblast killing in different strains of immunodeficient mice indicated that rejection involved host natural killer cells, and this was corroborated by in vitro killing assays. The apparent intrinsic susceptibility of mouse trophoblasts to immune attack strongly suggests that it is instead some property of the pregnant uterus that is of primary importance in preventing rejection of the fetus.