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Updated: Aug 20, 2025

Isolation of Leukocytes from the Murine Tissues at the Maternal-Fetal Interface
Published on: May 21, 2015
Gestational Development of the Human Immune System
Laura Jardine1, Ina Schim van der Loeff2, Iram J Haq3
1Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE2 4HH, United Kingdom; Haematology Department, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Building an immune system is a monumental task critical to the survival of the fetus and newborn. A functional fetal immune system must complement the maternal immune system in handling in utero infection; abstain from damaging non-self-reactions that would compromise the materno-fetal interface; mobilize in response to infection and equip mucosal tissues for pathogen exposure at birth. There is growing appreciation that immune cells also have noncanonical roles in development and specifically may contribute to tissue morphogenesis. In this review we detail how hematopoietic and lymphoid organs jointly establish cellular constituents of the immune system; how these constituents are organized in 2 mucosal sites-gut and lung-where early life immune function has long-term consequences for health; and how exemplar diseases of prematurity and inborn errors of immunity reveal dominant pathways in prenatal immunity.
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