Phenotype of decidual NK cells in women with hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy

AIM: To investigate the phenotype of uterine decidual natural killer cells (dNK cells) in women with hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP). METHODS: All the study subjects were collected from Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. Twenty cases of singleton pregnancy who underwent caesarean section because of HDCP were selected as HDCP group, and 15 cases of singleton pregnancy received selective caesarean section because of social-psychological concerns were also randomly selected as normal control group. The decidual tissues were sampled immediately after caesarean section. The mononuclear cells were extracted from the tissues by means of mechanic grinding and gradient centrifugation. The technique of flow cytometry was used for dNK cell sorting and the expression of CD56 and CD16 on the surface of cells was also examined. RESULTS: In HDCP group and normal control group, the proportions of CD56^brightCD16^-CD3^- dNK cells were significantly higher than those of CD56^dimCD16⁺CD3^-dNK cells (P<0.01). Neither the CD56^brightCD16^-CD3^- subset nor the CD56^dimCD16⁺CD3^- subset had statistical difference between HDCP group and normal control group. No significant difference of CD16 expression on the surface of dNK cells between HDCP group and normal control group was observed (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The phenotypes of dNK cells from the women with HDCP and from healthy pregnant women are both dominated by CD56^brightCD16^-CD3^- subset, without significant difference.