Submitted February 5, 2007
Returned for revision February 20, 2007
Accepted June 6, 2007
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Dendritic Cells: Key to Fetal Tolerance?
Sandra M. Blois *,
Ulrike Kämmerer ,
Catalina Alba Soto ,
Mareike C. Tometten ,
Valerie Shaikly ,
Gabriela Barrientos ,
Richard Jurd ,
Daniel Rukavina ,
Angus W. Thomson ,
Burghard F. Klapp ,
Nelson Fernández ,
and
Petra C. Arck
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sandra.blois{at}charite.de.
Abstract
Pregnancy is a unique event in which a fetus, despite being genetically and immunologically different from the mother (a hemi-allograft), develops in uterus. Successful pregnancy implies avoidance of rejection by the mother's immune system. Fetal and maternal immune cells come into direct contact at the decidua, a highly-specialized mucous membrane that plays a key role in fetal tolerance. Uterine dendritic cells (DC) observed within the decidua have been implicated in pregnancy maintenance. DC serve as antigen-presenting cells with a unique ability to induce primary immune responses; just as lymphocytes comprise different subsets, DC subsets have been identified that differentially control lymphocyte function. DC may also act to induce immunological tolerance and regulation of T cell-mediated immunity. Current understanding of DC immunobiology within the context of mammalian fetal-maternal tolerance is reviewed and discussed herein.
Key words:
Decidua •
Placenta •
Progesterone •
Uterus •
Dendritic cells
