1. Granulysin-mediated apoptosis of trophoblasts in blighted ovum and missed abortion.
- Author
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Gulic T, Laskarin G, Dominovic M, Glavan Gacanin L, Babarović E, Rubesa Z, Haller H, and Rukavina D
- Subjects
- Apoptosis, Apoptotic Protease-Activating Factor 1 metabolism, Cells, Cultured, Female, Flow Cytometry, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, NF-kappa B metabolism, NK Cell Lectin-Like Receptor Subfamily C metabolism, Pregnancy, Abortion, Missed immunology, Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte metabolism, Decidua pathology, Killer Cells, Natural immunology, Trophoblasts immunology
- Abstract
Problem: Granulysin (GNLY) is a cytotoxic molecule mostly present in decidual natural killer (NK) cells. Blighted ovum (BO) and missed abortion (MA) represent the early pathological pregnancies with hindered development of the embryoblast or a dead embryo. We investigated the GNLY-mediated apoptotic mechanism potentially responsible for delayed termination of pregnancy., Method of Study: We performed immunohistological and immunofluorescence labeling of decidual tissues (GNLY, Apaf-1, NF-κB). NKG2A expression was analyzed by flow cytometry and GNLY mRNA by RT-qPCR., Results: The GNLY labeling intensity (H score) was lower in the nuclei of trophoblast cells in BO and MA. GNLY gene levels were inversely detected in BO and MA. A decreased decidual NK cell percentage was found in MA. NK cells from pathological pregnancies expressed lower NKG2A levels. The highest frequency of Apaf-1 was found in trophoblast cells of MA. NF-kB was highly expressed in decidual cells of BO., Conclusion: The reduced activation of GNLY-mediated killing might be implicated in the slower rejection of trophoblast cells in BO and MA. A decreased authentic decidual NK cell number could be responsible for low cytotoxicity against trophoblast cells in MA. In BO, trophoblast cells have a higher survival potential due to increased NF-kB expression., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
- Published
- 2018
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