Uterine natural killer cells: To protect and to nurture

Dorothy K Sojka1, Liping Yang1, Wayne M Yokoyama1

  • 1Rheumatology Division, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.

Birth Defects Research
|November 24, 2018
PubMed

During the course of pregnancy, the maternal-fetal interface is tightly regulated and undergoes dynamic changes that promote the successful development of the semi-allogeneic fetus. In response to embryo implantation, the uterus remodels with maternal immune cells occupying the maternal-fetal interface and uterine natural killer (uNK) cells becoming the most prominent leukocyte. Recently, uNK cells have been discovered to be heterogeneous, including conventional NK and tissue-resident NK cells. Here, we will review the recent advances in uNK cell biology and discuss their functional mechanisms which protect and nurture the growing fetus.

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