Reproductive BioMedicine Online
Volume 21, Issue 3 , Pages 304-311, September 2010

New target cells of the immunomodulatory effects of progesterone

  • Dobroslav Kyurkchiev

      Affiliations

    • Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, University Hospital ‘St. Ivan Rilski’, Medical University Sofia, 15 Acad. Ivan Geshov, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author.
    • ,
  • Ekaterina Ivanova-Todorova

      Affiliations

    • Laboratory of Clinical Immunology, University Hospital ‘St. Ivan Rilski’, Medical University Sofia, 15 Acad. Ivan Geshov, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria
    • ,
  • Stanimir Dobrev Kyurkchiev

      Affiliations

    • Department of Molecular Immunology, Institute of Biology and Immunology of Reproduction, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 73 Tzarigradsko Shosse, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

Received 15 December 2009; received in revised form 1 April 2010; accepted 7 April 2010. published online 20 July 2010.

Declaration: The authors report no financial or commercial conflicts of interest.

Abstract 

It is well known that the reproductive steroid hormones, particularly progesterone, in addition to its widely recognized effects on endometrial epithelial and stromal cells and spiral arteries, affect the activities of T cells and natural killer cells in the deciduas, thus inducing active immune tolerance against the fetal antigens. The immunomodulatory effects of progesterone on T cells, B cells and natural killer cells have been discussed extensively in the literature. The aim of the present review is to sum up and discuss the results from this and other laboratories of investigations on the effects of progesterone on dendritic cells and adult stem cells, which are some of the other cell populations present at the fetal–maternal interface and possibly are related to the immunoregulation during pregnancy. These cells have been shown to have a number of specific functions but their involvement in the entire process of regulation of the immune response in pregnancy is still under discussion. The present review focuses on facts showing that the progesterone is a kind of ‘regulator of regulators’ in the decidua, thus creating the most favourable conditions for the development of the semi-allogeneic fetus in successful pregnancy.

Keywords: dendritic cells, HLA-G, immunomodulation, mesenchymal stem cells, PIBF, progesterone

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 Dr Dobroslav Kyurkchiev graduated from the Medical University in Sofia, Bulgaria with his MD and in 2003 he gained his PhD in clinical immunology. Since 2004, he has been working in the Department of Clinical Laboratory and Clinical Immunology, Medical University, Sofia. Dr Kyurkchiev has successfully researched the participation of the immune cells in the pathogenesis of the antiphospholipid syndrome and particularly the cellular immune response against β2-glycoprotein I. Currently he is researching the effect of reproductive steroid hormones on cells that are actively engaged in the control of the immune response in pregnancy.

PII: S1472-6483(10)00226-9

doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2010.04.014

Reproductive BioMedicine Online
Volume 21, Issue 3 , Pages 304-311, September 2010

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