Hesselink, Anouk (2020) Fetal sex-specific levels of memory T-cells and regulatory T-cells in decidual tissue and maternal blood in late pregnancy. thesis, Medicine.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Regulatory T-cells (Tregs) and memory Tregs play an important role in tolerating the semiallogenic fetus during pregnancy. Remarkably, both decreased expression of maternal Tregs, altered levels of memory Tregs, as well as pregnancies with a male fetus are associated with pregnancy complications. More specific, a previous study suggested that the expression of the Tregs marker FoxP3 is lower with a male fetus in first trimester decidual tissue. However, it is not known if similar sex-specific differences in maternal immunity are also observed at term. Therefore, this study aimed to find differences in proportions of Tregs in both term decidual tissue and maternal peripheral blood, comparing pregnancies with a male fetus and a female fetus. Term placentas (n=37) and peripheral blood from late pregnancy (n=7) was collected from uncomplicated pregnancies and analyzed using flow cytometry. Cells were stained for expression of CD4, CD8, CD69, CD45RO, CCR7, FoxP3, GATA3, T-bet, and RORgt. FVS was used for detection of viable cells. It was shown that in pregnancies with a female fetus, there are significantly lower proportions of memory CD4+ cells, memory CD8+ cells, CD4+ central memory T-cells, and CD8+ effector memory T-cells in the decidua basalis and there is less activation of Tregs and memory Tregs in the decidua basalis, compared to pregnancies with a male fetus. The results of this study imply a fetal sex-specific adaption of the maternal immune system and support the idea that research on reproductive immunology should consider a fetal sex bias.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Dr. Prins, J. R. and Dr. Faas, M. M. |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Oct 2023 11:12 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Oct 2023 11:12 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3704 |
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