Cell-mediated immunity imbalance in patients with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy

Decidual lymphocytes may mediate fetal trophoblast recognition and regulate maternal immune reaction and play an essential role in the maintenance of normal pregnancy. The aim of this study was to compare the percentage of T cells, natural killer (NK) cells and natural killer T (NKT) cells within decidual parietalis of normal pregnant controls (NP) and patients with intraheptic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), and to investigate the production of interleukin-4 (IL-4), interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in the culture supernatant of decidual parietalis mononuclear cells (DPMCs). Compared with controls, the decidua parietalis from ICP were characterized with significant increased percentages of CD3-CD56+ cells, CD3+CD56+ cells, CD56+CD16+ cells, CD56+CD16- cells, CD56+NKG2D+ cells, and the significant decreased percentages of CD3+ cells, CD3+CD4+ cells. There were no differences found for the percentage of CD3+CD8+ cells, CD56+NKG2A+ cells between control and study group. In addition, the enhanced concentration of IFN-gamma was presented in culture supernatant of DPMCs from ICP. It was suggested that the increased NK cells, NKT cells and the decreased T cells in the decidual parietalis and over-secretion of IFN-gamma could be correlated with the pathophysiology of ICP patients.