Book contents
- The Placenta and Human Developmental Programming
- The Placenta and Human Developmental Programming
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The maternal and placental origins of chronic disease
- 3 Pre- and periconceptual health and the HPA axis
- 4 Nutrition and preimplantation development
- 5 Maternofetal transport pathways during embryogenesis and organogenesis
- 6 Imprinted genes and placental growth
- 7 Genomic imprinting
- 8 Trophoblast invasion and uterine artery remodelling in primates
- 9 The role of the maternal immune response in fetal programming
- 10 Clinical causes and aspects of placental insufficiency
- 11 Uterine blood flow as a determinant of fetoplacental development
- 12 Placental amino acid transporters
- 13 The maternal circulation and placental shape
- 14 Glucocorticoids and placental programming
- 15 Clinical biomarkers of placental development
- 16 The placental roots of cardiovascular disease
- 17 Placental function and later risk of osteoporosis
- 18 Final general discussion
- 19 The placenta and developmental programming
- Index
9 - The role of the maternal immune response in fetal programming
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2011
Book contents
- The Placenta and Human Developmental Programming
- The Placenta and Human Developmental Programming
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The maternal and placental origins of chronic disease
- 3 Pre- and periconceptual health and the HPA axis
- 4 Nutrition and preimplantation development
- 5 Maternofetal transport pathways during embryogenesis and organogenesis
- 6 Imprinted genes and placental growth
- 7 Genomic imprinting
- 8 Trophoblast invasion and uterine artery remodelling in primates
- 9 The role of the maternal immune response in fetal programming
- 10 Clinical causes and aspects of placental insufficiency
- 11 Uterine blood flow as a determinant of fetoplacental development
- 12 Placental amino acid transporters
- 13 The maternal circulation and placental shape
- 14 Glucocorticoids and placental programming
- 15 Clinical biomarkers of placental development
- 16 The placental roots of cardiovascular disease
- 17 Placental function and later risk of osteoporosis
- 18 Final general discussion
- 19 The placenta and developmental programming
- Index
Summary
This chapter discusses the role of the uterine immune system in the regulation of trophoblast transformation of spiral arteries. The health of both the fetus and the mother is contingent upon regulating the extent of trophoblast invasion. The placental genome has the potential to express paternal antigens and thus could potentially be recognized as non-self by the maternal immune system. The lack of highly polymorphic HLA-A and -B molecules preclude strong anti-HLA class I T cell alloreactions that could damage fetal trophoblast. The uNK cells express surface killer immunoglobulin receptors (KIR), which are known to bind to HLA-C and HLA-G on trophoblast. HLA-C+trophoblast cells intermingle with KIR+uNK cells at the site of placentation where extravillous trophoblast (EVT) transform the uterine arteries. Although variations in the extent of trophoblast invasion are influenced by multiple biological processes, the KIR-HLAC axis is still the only known polymorphic interaction between maternal and fetal cells.
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- The Placenta and Human Developmental Programming , pp. 102 - 113Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010