Jerusalem, September 17, 2006
The immune system is known to protect the body by destroying foreign invaders. But now a team of researchers at Hadassah University Medical Center on Mount Scopus has discovered that it can also build. This previously unknown function plays a major role in pregnancy, with important implications for conditions that cause pre-eclampsia and miscarriages.
"Our research revealed that natural killer (NK) cells of the immune system are positive regulators of human cells, in addition to their well-known killing function," says obstetrics and gynecology Prof. Simcha Yagel, whose team's findings have been published in Nature Medicine. "This positive regulation stimulates the immune system to secrete special growth factors, and triggers the tremendous uterine blood vessel widening necessary for the growth and development of the placenta. We know now that without this positive regulation, the placenta would not develop properly.
"It's as if we opened a door we never knew existed and entered a completely new world of exciting possibilities."
Yagel, Prof. Ofer Mandelboim and Dr. Jacob Hanna (of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School's Lautenberg Center for General and Tumor Immunology) and Dr. Debra Goldman-Wohl (of Hadassah's department of obstetrics and gynecology) and colleagues discovered this previously unknown feature using both cellular and molecular biology to advance their understanding of maternal-fetal interaction.
"What we have learned about the immune system will have significant impact on many aspects of problematic pregnancies as well as the In Vitro Fertilization process. In the future, our research may help us remedy or prevent these conditions," Yagel says. "The placenta is the connection between mother and fetus. If the placenta doesn't develop properly, it impedes implantation of the fetal cells," he explains. "Shallow fetal cell implantation is a hallmark of pre-eclampsia - a condition that develops in late pregnancy caused by vascular problems of the placenta. Our discovery could lead to a treatment that reduces the incidence of pre-eclampsia, a condition that affects 7% of all pregnant women and may have therapeutic implications on recurrent miscarriage," he says. "In the next stage of our research, we will continue to explore the precise immune receptors for a better understanding of how they function, and ultimately, how they can help ensure healthy babies."
For further information:
Rebecca Zeffert, Dept. of Media Relations, the Hebrew University, Tel: 02-588-1641, or Orit Sulitzeanu, Hebrew University spokesperson, Tel: 02-5882910 or 052-260-8016. Internet site: http://media.huji.ac.il.
|
