Uterine NK cells regulate endometrial bleeding in women and are suppressed by the progesterone receptor modulator asoprisnil
Open accessAbstract
Uterine NK cells (uNK) play a role in the regulation of placentation, but their functions in nonpregnant endometrium are not understood. We have previously reported suppression of endometrial bleeding and alteration of spiral artery morphology in women exposed to asoprisnil, a progesterone receptor modulator. We now compare global endometrial gene expression in asoprisnil-treated versus control women, and we demonstrate a statistically significant reduction of genes in the IL-15 pathway, known to play a key role in uNK development and function. Suppression of IL-15 by asoprisnil was also observed at mRNA level (p < 0.05), and immunostaining for NK cell marker CD56 revealed a striking reduction of uNK in asoprisnil-treated endometrium (p < 0.001). IL-15 levels in normal endometrium are progesterone-responsive. Progesterone receptor (PR) positive stromal cells transcribe both IL-15 and IL-15RA. Thus, the response of stromal cells to progesterone will be to increase IL-15 trans-presentation to uNK, supporting their expansion and differentiation. In asoprisnil-treated endometrium, there is a marked downregulation of stromal PR expression and virtual absence of uNK. These novel findings indicate that the IL-15 pathway provides a missing link in the complex interplay among endometrial stromal cells, uNK, and spiral arteries affecting physiologic and pathologic endometrial bleeding.
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- Authors
- Wilkens, J., Male, V., Ghazal, P., Forster, T., Gibson, D. A., Williams, A. R. W., Brito-Mutunayagam, S. L., Craigon, M., Lourenco, P., Cameron, I. T., Chwalisz, K., Moffett, A., & Critchley, H. O. D.
- Affiliations
- MRC Centre for Reproductive Health (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Abbott Laboratories , Abbott Park, IL 60064
- Corresponding author
- Wilkens, Julia
- Lourenco, Paula
- ORCID
- Venue
- The Journal of Immunology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-09-01
- Volume
- 191
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 2226-2235
- ISSN
- 0022-1767 (ISSN-L)
- 1550-6606
- PMC
- PMC3843142
- OpenAlex
- W2120983951
- Cited by
- 101
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 3.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Journal of Immunology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- ORCA Online Research @Cardiff (Cardiff University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- British Heart Foundation
- King's College London
- Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Reproductive System and Pregnancy
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immune Cell Function and Interaction
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Keywords
- uterine NK cells, endometrial bleeding, asoprisnil, progesterone receptor modulators, endometrial stromal cells, CD56, spiral arteries, endometrial gene expression, progesterone response, trans-presentation
- MeSH terms
- Double-Blind Method, Endometrium, Estrenes, Female, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Killer Cells, Natural, Leiomyoma, Lymphocyte Activation, Oximes, Receptors, Progesterone, Uterine Neoplasms, Uterus, Interleukin-15, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Transcriptome
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