%0 Journal Article
%T Role of uterine natural killer cells in angiogenesis of human decidua of the first-trimester pregnancy<br>
%A LI GuoHua
%A HUANG Wei
%A XIA QingJie
%A YANG KaiXuan
%A LIU RaoFang
%A ZHU HuiLi &
%A JIANG Wei
%A <br>
%J 中国科学C辑(英文版)
%D 2008
%I Springer
%X Decidualization is accompanied by extensive angiogenesis, which is an essential step in the maturation of new blood vessels in mammalian pregnancy. The purpose of this study was to determine a distribution of uNK cells (CD56 uNK or CD56bright cells) in human decidua of the first-trimester pregnancy, and investigate whether uNK cells in human decidua could express vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) and/or angiopoietin2 (Ang2). Our immunohistochemical staining results demonstrated that a great amount of uNK (CD56 ) cells scattered throughout the decidual stroma and near endometrial gland and spiral vessels in human decidua. The protein expression of VEGF-A and Ang2 was detected in decidual stroma cells, capillary endothelial cells and glandular cells in tissue specimens. There was a positive correlation between microvessel density (MVD) and the number of the CD56-positive uNK cells in decidual stroma, and also between the number of the CD56-positive uNK cells and VEGF-A protein expression in the tissue. In addition, we found that uNK cells in human decidua could express VEGF-A mRNA, but not Ang2 mRNA, in isolated uNK cells in human decidua of the first-trimester gestation by combination of LCM and Nested-PCR. Our study indicated that uNK cells, through expressing VEGF-A, may play an important role in the angiogenic response at the time of human decidualization and early placenta development.
%K uterine natural killer cells
%K decidua
%K angiogenesis
%K VEGF
%K Ang2<br>
%U http://www.alljournals.cn/get_abstract_url.aspx?pcid=90BA3D13E7F3BC869AC96FB3DA594E3FE34FBF7B8BC0E591&jid=180CF3A72E750F3261A8A60EDC957784&aid=1DC50722F5365D7623152FD5DB3E963F&yid=67289AFF6305E306&vid=987EDA49D8A7A635&iid=0B39A22176CE99FB&sid=480C51B1F0CE0AB6&eid=EFD65B51496FB200&journal_id=1674-7305&journal_name=ScienceChina.Lifesciences&referenced_num=0&reference_num=24