Immunological regulation and the role of autophagy in preeclampsia

Autophagy is a bulk degradation system that maintains cellular homeostasis by producing energy and/or recycling excess proteins. During early placentation, extravillous trophoblasts invade the decidua and uterine myometrium, facing maternal immune cells, which participate in the immune suppression of paternal and fetal antigens. Regulatory T cells will likely increase in response to a specific antigen before and during early pregnancy. Insufficient expansion of antigen-specific Treg cells, which possess the same T cell receptor, is associated with the pathophysiology of preeclampsia, suggesting sterile systemic inflammation. Autophagy is involved in reducing inflammation through the degradation of inflammasomes and in the differentiation and function of regulatory T cells. Autophagy dysregulation induces protein aggregation in trophoblasts, resulting in placental dysfunction. In this review, we discuss the role of regulatory T cells in normal pregnancies. In addition, we discuss the association between autophagy and regulatory T cells in the development of preeclampsia based on reports on the role of autophagy in autoimmune diseases.