Trophoblast cells modulate the functional profile of dendritic cells

G. SALAMONE; L. FRACCAROLI; L. VOJACEK; C. PÉREZ LEIRÓS; J. GEFFNER; R. RAMHORST

Rio de Janeiro

Simposio; 2nd symposium on Reproductive Immunology-4th Brazilian Symposium on HLA and Disease; 2009

Background: Dendritic cells (DC) appear to play an important role at the maternal-fetal interface by inducing a tolerogenic microenvironment. Material and methods: We analyzed the ability of the trophoblast-cell line Swan-71 to modulate the phenotype and function of DC differentiated from peripheral blood monocytes (80% purity) from fertile women, with IL-4 and GM-CSF during 5 days. DC were cocultured with trophoblast cells (DC: trophoblast cells ratio of 5:1) for 24 h at 37C, and cells were cultured with or without LPS (0.1 lg/mL) for an additional period of 24 h. Then, the phenotype of DC was analyzed by flow cytometry. Results: Coculture of DCs with trophoblast cells did not result in changes in the expression of CD1a, HLA-DR, CD86 or CD40. Treatment with LPS resulted in the up-regulation of HLA-DR, CD86, and CD40. Interestingly, trophoblast cells increase the ability of LPS to upegulates the expression of HLA-DR while partially impaired the up-regulation of CD86 triggered by LPS. Moreover, pre-incubation with trophoblast cells resulted in the up-regulation of the production of IL-10, MCP-1 and IL-6 (P < 0.05) either in cells treated or not with LPS. By contrast, production of TNF-a triggered by LPS was partially impaired as a consequence of DC treatment with trophoblast cells. Conclusion: Together, our results shown that trophoblast cells are capable to modulate the phenotype and cytokine profile of DCs.