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Our current aim was to investigate whether injection of TGF-β1 played an important role in improving abnormal pregnancy outcomes with T. gondii infection and how the TGF-β1 regulated. Results showed that TGF-β1 exhibited improved pregnancy outcomes induced by T. gondii infection. dNK cytotoxicity was increased with T. gondii infection while decreased with TGF-β1 treatment. dNK cytotoxicity related NKG2D/DAP10 expression, perforin, granzyme, IFN-γ and killer subsets were all increased with T. gondii infection while decreased after TGF-β1 treatment. In addition, anti-TGF-β1 antibodies could aggregate the cytotoxicity of dNK cells and the levels of molecules above. These results indicated that TGF-β1 treatment could improve the abnormal pregnancy outcomes with T. gondii infection by decreasing the cytotoxicity of dNK cells mediated by NKG2D/DAP10 pathway and killer subset. These results suggested that TGF-β1 might be a potential immunoprotective method for the treatment of abnormal pregnancy outcomes following T. gondii infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the changes of human decidual natural killer (dNK) cells cocultured with Toxoplasma gondii in vitro and to infer implications on pregnancy. Design: Case-control study. Setting: College and hospital. Patient(s): Decidual tissue was obtained from 85 patients undergoing voluntary abortion during the first trimester of gestation (6–12 weeks). Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): The dNK cells were isolated and infected with YFP-Toxoplasma gondii. Cells were observed by fluorescence and confocal microscopy. The CD56brightCD16−/CD56dimCD16+ dNK ratio, expression of KIR2DL4, ILT-2, and NKG2D on dNK cells were analyzed by flow cytometry and the cytotoxic activity of infected dNK cells were evaluated. Result(s): The CD56dimCD16+/CD56brightCD16− dNK ratio was significantly elevated at 12, 24, and 48 hours after YFP-T. gondii infection. Expression of KIR2DL4, ILT-2, and NKG2D were increased after infection, but NKG2D were significantly higher than those of KIR2DL4 and ILT-2. Both the CD56dimCD16+/CD56brightCD16− dNK ratio and NKG2D expression were correlated with dNK cytotoxic activity. Conclusion(s): Enhanced dNK cytotoxicity due to increased CD16 and NKG2D expression may contribute to abnormal pregnancy outcomes observed with maternal infection with T. gondii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]