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The integrative roles of chemokines at the maternal–fetal interface in early pregnancy

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 11, pages 438–448 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Embryos express paternal antigens that are foreign to the mother, but the mother provides a special immune milieu at the fetal–maternal interface to permit rather than reject the embryo growth in the uterus until parturition by establishing precise crosstalk between the mother and the fetus. There are unanswered questions in the maintenance of pregnancy, including the poorly understood phenomenon of maternal tolerance to the allogeneic conceptus, and the remarkable biological roles of placental trophoblasts that invade the uterine wall. Chemokines are multifunctional molecules initially described as having a role in leukocyte trafficking and later found to participate in developmental processes such as differentiation and directed migration. It is increasingly evident that the gestational uterine microenvironment is characterized, at least in part, by the differential expression and secretion of chemokines that induce selective trafficking of leukocyte subsets to the maternal–fetal interface and regulate multiple events that are closely associated with normal pregnancy. Here, we review the expression and function of chemokines and their receptors at the maternal–fetal interface, with a special focus on chemokine as a key component in trophoblast invasiveness and placental angiogenesis, recruitment and instruction of immune cells so as to form a fetus-supporting milieu during pregnancy. The chemokine network is also involved in pregnancy complications.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Key Project of Shanghai Basic Research from Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission (STCSM) (12JC1401600 to DJL); the Key Project of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (MECSM) (14ZZ013 to MRD) and Nature Science Foundation from National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (NSFC31270969 to DJL; NSFC81070537, NSFC31171437 and NSFC81370770 to MRD).

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  1. Mei-Rong Du and Song-Cun Wang: M-RD and S-CW contributed equally to this work.

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  1. Laboratory for Reproductive Immunology, Hospital and Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fudan University, Shanghai Medical College, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Female Reproductive Endocrine Related Diseases, Shanghai, China

    Mei-Rong Du, Song-Cun Wang & Da-Jin Li

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  1. Mei-Rong Du
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  2. Song-Cun Wang
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Du, MR., Wang, SC. & Li, DJ. The integrative roles of chemokines at the maternal–fetal interface in early pregnancy. Cell Mol Immunol 11, 438–448 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/cmi.2014.68

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