Published 20 October 2003. doi:10.1084/jem.20030305
© Rockefeller University Press,
0022-1007/2003/10/1201 $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 198, Number 8, 1201-1212
Human Decidual Natural Killer Cells Are a Unique NK Cell Subset with Immunomodulatory Potential
Louise A. Koopman1,
Hernan D. Kopcow1,
Basya Rybalov1,
Jonathan E. Boyson1,
Jordan S. Orange1,
Frederick Schatz2,
Rachel Masch3,
Charles J. Lockwood2,
Asher D. Schachter4,
Peter J. Park4 and
Jack L. Strominger1
1 Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510
3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY 10016
4 Children's Hospital Informatics Program, Boston, MA 02115
Address correspondence to Louise A. Koopman at her present address Biogen, Inc., 15 Cambridge Center, Rm. 8-530, Cambridge, MA 02142. Phone: (617) 679-3815; Fax: (617) 914-7140; email: louise_koopman{at}biogen.com; or Jack L. Strominger, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. Phone: (617) 495-3281; Fax: (617) 496-8351; email: jlstrom{at}fas.harvard.edu
Natural killer cells constitute 5090% of lymphocytes in human uterine decidua in early pregnancy. Here, CD56bright uterine decidual NK (dNK) cells were compared with the CD56bright and CD56dim peripheral NK cell subsets by microarray analysis, with verification of results by flow cytometry and RT-PCR. Among the
10,000 genes studied, 278 genes showed at least a threefold change with P
0.001 when comparing the dNK and peripheral NK cell subsets, most displaying increased expression in dNK cells. The largest number of these encoded surface proteins, including the unusual lectinlike receptors NKG2E and Ly-49L, several killer cell Ig-like receptors, the integrin subunits
D,
X, ß1, and ß5, and multiple tetraspanins (CD9, CD151, CD53, CD63, and TSPAN-5). Additionally, two secreted proteins, galectin-1 and progestagen-associated protein 14, known to have immunomodulatory functions, were selectively expressed in dNK cells.
Key Words: pregnancy maternal-fetal relations natural killer cells gene expression profiling lymphocyte subsets

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