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Highlights

Functional HY-Specific CD8+ T Cells Are Found in a High Proportion of Women Following Pregnancy with a Male Fetus.

Karen P. Piper, Andrew McLarnon, Julie Arrazi, Claire Horlock, Jennifer Ainsworth, Mark D. Kilby, William L. Martin, and Paul A. Moss. Biol Reprod 2007; 76:96–101. Published online ahead of print 20 September 2006; DOI 10.1095/biolreprod.106.055426

Sons leave their marks in moms.

A paper on p. 96 by Piper et al. renews our interest in two-way cell traffic between mother and fetus. Fetal cells are detected in the maternal circulation during virtually all human pregnancies; they can engraft, and they may have clinical consequences, either detrimental or valuable, to the mother. The immunological consequences of this cell transfer have not been thoroughly studied. This work takes advantage of the male HY antigens and finds that alloreactive HY-specific CD8+ T cells are generated frequently following normal pregnancy with a male fetus. Further, these cells retain functional capability for years after the pregnancy, raising the risk of immunopathology, including a negative impact on survival of subsequent pregnancies.

Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Enhances Formation of Germ Cell Colonies in Neonatal Mouse Testis Culture.

Mito Kanatsu-Shinohara, Kimiko Inoue, Narumi Ogonuki, Hiromi Miki, Shosei Yoshida, Shinya Toyokuni, Jiyoung Lee, Atsuo Ogura, and Takashi Shinohara. Biol Reprod 2007; 76:55–62. Published online ahead of print 4 October 2006; DOI 10.1095/biolreprod.106.055863

Advancing germline stem cells.

On p. 55, research reported by Kanatsu-Shinohara et al. extends our knowledge of cytokines favorable for culture of germline stem cells. These authors built on their previous development of defined conditions for GS cells that give rise to normal offspring when transplanted into seminiferous tubules of infertile recipient mice (Biol Reprod 2003; 69:612–616) to provide more information on regulation of spermatogonial cell proliferation. They now show that leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) enhances the formation of germ cell colonies in cultures of germ cells derived from newborn testes but is not required for establishing GS cells from testes of juvenile or adult mice. Although ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and oncostatin M (OSM), like LIF, are members of the interleukin-6 family of cytokines and both bind to the IL6ST receptor, only CNTF has the same effect as LIF on colony formation. GS cells derived with or without LIF express the same markers and both produce offspring when transplanted to the testes of infertile recipients. Thus, LIF is useful but not required for the self-renewal of GS cells, and LIF or a related cytokine contributes to the development of gonocytes into spermatogonia. Refinement of these culture systems offers the promise of using GS cells as vehicles for transgenesis, gene targeting, and gene therapy.

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