Peripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells throughout pregnancy and in preeclamptic women.

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are implicated in the pathogenesis of several diseases. They influence both innate and adaptive immune responses through their capacity to rapidly produce large quantities of cytokines upon activation. During pregnancy maternal immunity is biased towards type...

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Main Authors: Southcombe, J, Redman, C, Sargent, I
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2010
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author Southcombe, J
Redman, C
Sargent, I
author_facet Southcombe, J
Redman, C
Sargent, I
author_sort Southcombe, J
collection OXFORD
description Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are implicated in the pathogenesis of several diseases. They influence both innate and adaptive immune responses through their capacity to rapidly produce large quantities of cytokines upon activation. During pregnancy maternal immunity is biased towards type 2 cytokine production to regulate type 1 cytokines that could be harmful for the developing fetus. This shift to type 2 cytokines does not occur in preeclamptic women and there is an exaggerated maternal inflammatory response which is dangerous for both mother and baby. We have therefore investigated the numbers, phenotype and functional activity of iNKT cells throughout pregnancy and in women diagnosed with preeclampsia. We demonstrate that the numbers of iNKT cells in the peripheral blood do not change between the first, second and third trimesters of pregnancy, but the cells become activated and less able to produce the type 1 cytokine IFNγ. However, iNKT cells are unchanged in preeclamptic women, when compared to normal pregnancy, suggesting that these cells are not primary players in the pathogenesis of the disease.
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spelling oxford-uuid:56e6faf7-f259-4886-996b-bf95c17387a72022-03-26T16:53:18ZPeripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells throughout pregnancy and in preeclamptic women.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:56e6faf7-f259-4886-996b-bf95c17387a7EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2010Southcombe, JRedman, CSargent, IInvariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are implicated in the pathogenesis of several diseases. They influence both innate and adaptive immune responses through their capacity to rapidly produce large quantities of cytokines upon activation. During pregnancy maternal immunity is biased towards type 2 cytokine production to regulate type 1 cytokines that could be harmful for the developing fetus. This shift to type 2 cytokines does not occur in preeclamptic women and there is an exaggerated maternal inflammatory response which is dangerous for both mother and baby. We have therefore investigated the numbers, phenotype and functional activity of iNKT cells throughout pregnancy and in women diagnosed with preeclampsia. We demonstrate that the numbers of iNKT cells in the peripheral blood do not change between the first, second and third trimesters of pregnancy, but the cells become activated and less able to produce the type 1 cytokine IFNγ. However, iNKT cells are unchanged in preeclamptic women, when compared to normal pregnancy, suggesting that these cells are not primary players in the pathogenesis of the disease.
spellingShingle Southcombe, J
Redman, C
Sargent, I
Peripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells throughout pregnancy and in preeclamptic women.
title Peripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells throughout pregnancy and in preeclamptic women.
title_full Peripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells throughout pregnancy and in preeclamptic women.
title_fullStr Peripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells throughout pregnancy and in preeclamptic women.
title_full_unstemmed Peripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells throughout pregnancy and in preeclamptic women.
title_short Peripheral blood invariant natural killer T cells throughout pregnancy and in preeclamptic women.
title_sort peripheral blood invariant natural killer t cells throughout pregnancy and in preeclamptic women
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AT redmanc peripheralbloodinvariantnaturalkillertcellsthroughoutpregnancyandinpreeclampticwomen
AT sargenti peripheralbloodinvariantnaturalkillertcellsthroughoutpregnancyandinpreeclampticwomen