Immunomodulatory effects of progesterone through the VIP/VPAC system in the trophoblast-maternal leukocyte dialogue

FRACCAROLI, LAURA; HAUK, VANESA; GRASSO, ESTEBAN; PAPARINI, DANIEL; PÉREZ LEIRÓS, CLAUDIA; RAMHORST, ROSANNA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; First French-Argentine Immunology Congress; 2010

Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología y French Society of Immunology

Successful embryo implantation occurs followed by a local pro-inflammatory and Th1 response, subsequently controlled by a Th2/tolerogenic one. Several data point that progesterone, the main hormone in pregnancy, and VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide) favor tolerance to fetal antigens displaying anti-inflammatory effects and promoting tolerogenic responses through multiple mechanisms. In the present work, we studied the interaction between VIP and progesterone in the modulation of the maternal immune response using and in vitro model of trophoblast-maternal leukocyte dialogue. We performed co-cultures of trophoblast cells (Swan-71 cell line) and PBMCs from fertile women in the absence or presence of VIP (10-7M) and progesterone (10-4M), after 48h we quantified relevant mediators in this dialogue. Progesterone significantly decreased the expression of T-bet (Western Blot) and COX-2 (RT-PCR), the MMP-9 gelatinolytic activity and the nitrite and MCP-1 production (by Griess method and ELISA respectively) (p