1. Clusters of Tolerogenic B Cells Feature in the Dynamic Immunological Landscape of the Pregnant Uterus
- Author
-
Irma Joosten, Gerben Ferwerda, Marilen Benner, Sergi Cedó López, Mark A.J. Gorris, Nurcan Inci, Renate G. van der Molen, Celia Cartagena García, Esther Fasse, Olivier W.H. van der Heijden, Dorien Feyaerts, and Wijs Shadmanfar
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Reproductive immunology ,Cancer development and immune defence Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences [Radboudumc 2] ,lnfectious Diseases and Global Health Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences [Radboudumc 4] ,Biology ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Immune system ,Pregnancy ,Placenta ,medicine ,Humans ,Fetus ,B-Lymphocytes ,Decidua ,Uterus ,Trophoblast ,medicine.disease ,Interleukin 10 ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Immunology ,Female ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Inflammatory diseases Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences [Radboudumc 5] - Abstract
Contains fulltext : 225160.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Well-timed interaction of correctly functioning maternal immune cells is essential to facilitate healthy placenta formation, because the uterine immune environment has to tolerate the semi-allogeneic fetus and allow adequate trophoblast invasion. Here, we assess the uterine immune signature before and during pregnancy. Extensive supervised and unsupervised flow cytometry clustering strategies not only show a general increase in immune memory throughout pregnancy but also reveal the continuous presence of B cells. Contrary to the belief that B cells are merely a consequence of uterine pathology, decidual B cells produce IL-10 and are found to be localized in clusters, together with Foxp3(pos) T cells. Our findings therefore suggest a role for B cells in healthy pregnancy.
- Published
- 2020