Molecular definition of group 1 innate lymphoid cells in the mouse uterus. Issue 1 (December 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Filipovic, Iva; Chiossone, Laura; Vacca, Paola; Hamilton, Russell; Ingegnere, Tiziano; Doisne, Jean-Marc; Hawkes, Delia; Mingari, Maria; Sharkey, Andrew; Moretta, Lorenzo; Colucci, Francesco
• Is Part Of: Nature communications. Volume 9:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 13
• Publication Date: 2018-12
• Subjects: Biology -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06918-3
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-1723

Abstract

Abstract Determining the function of uterine lymphocytes is challenging because of the dynamic changes in response to sex hormones and, during pregnancy, to the invading foetal trophoblast cells. Here we provide a genome-wide transcriptome atlas of mouse uterine group 1 innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) at mid-gestation. Tissue-resident Eomes+ CD49a+ NK cells (trNK), which resemble human uterine NK cells, are most abundant during early pregnancy, and have gene signatures associated with TGF-β responses and interactions with trophoblast, epithelial, endothelial, smooth muscle cells, leucocytes and extracellular matrix. Conventional NK cells expand late in gestation and may engage in crosstalk with trNK cells involving IL-18 and IFN-γ. Eomes− CD49a+ ILC1s dominate before puberty, and specifically expand in second pregnancies when the expression of the memory cell marker CXCR6 is upregulated. These results identify trNK cells as the cellular hub of uterine group 1 ILCs, and mark CXCR6+ ILC1s as potential memory cells of pregnancy. Studying the uterine lymphocyte pool is difficult due to its dynamic nature induced by various pregnancy-related factors. Here the authors provide, using transcriptome data from sorted mouse group 1 innate lymphoid cells (ILC), a molecular atlas of these cells, which implicates tissue-resident natural killer cells as a hub for uterine immune crosstalk.