Modulation of the Culture Supernatant of Decidual Cells with Exogenous Cytokines on Killing Activity of Natural Killer Cells in Early Pregnancy

Objective To investigate the important function of cytohines in early pregnancy and to provide basic and experimental evidence for understanding the mechanism of their action.Methods Add interferon-γ (IFN-γ) ,interleuhin-2(IL-2) , interleuhin-6(IL-6) andepidermal growth factor(EGF) to the confluent culturing decidual cells with three different concentrations and harvest the culture supernatant after 12, 24 and 48 h separately. Observe the effect of the supernatant on killing activity of NK cells with radioimmunological assay of ^51Cr immersion.Results The culture supernatant of decidual cells can promote the killing activity of NK cells in various degrees, and the effect is independent of the type, concentration and acting time of cytokines.Conclusion In normal pregnancy, decidual cytokine network is in a dynamic equilibri-um. Exogenous cytokines would be harm to normal pregnancy by interfering the equi-librium state, but the exact mechanism needs further study.