Involvement of decidual Vα14 NKT cells in abortion

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.97.2.740
• Publication Date: 2002-07-26T10:32:33Z
• Authors: Katsura Ito; Mika Karasawa; Tetsu Kawano; Takeshi Akasaka; Haruhiko Koseki; Yasunori Akutsu; Eisuke Kondo; Souei Sekiya; Kenji Sekikawa; Michishige Harada; Masakatsu Yamashita; Toshinori Nakayama; Masaru Taniguchi
• Keywords: Male; Mice, Knockout; Pore Forming Cytotoxic Proteins; 0301 basic medicine; 0303 health sciences; Membrane Glycoproteins; Perforin; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; Abortion, Induced; Galactosylceramides; Flow Cytometry; Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; Trophoblasts; 3. Good health; Killer Cells, Natural; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Interferon-gamma; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Pregnancy; Decidua; Animals; Cytokines; Female

The immunological mechanisms that regulate abortion are largely unknown. Here, we found that a distinct subset of lymphocytes, Vα14 NKT cells expressing an invariant antigen receptor encoded by Vα14/Jα281 and Vβ7 segments, accumulated in the decidua during pregnancy and provoked abortion upon stimulation with α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer), a specific ligand for Vα14 NKT cells. The α-GalCer-mediated abortion was not observed in Vα14 NKT-, IFN-γ-, tumor necrosis factor α-, or perforin-knock-out mice and appeared to be due to the degeneration of embryonic trophoblasts mediated by the activated Vα14 NKT cells whose perforin-dependent killing and production of IFN-γ and tumor necrosis factor α were essential. The possible role of the decidual Vα14 NKT cells in the pathogenesis of abortion is discussed.