Maturation of human ovarian follicles is accompanied by a decrease in the CD56+CD16+ natural killer cell population.
Fertil Steril
; 95(7): 2395-8, 2011 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21457956
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate whether "proangiogenic" CD56+CD16- natural killer (NK) cells, which accumulate in follicular fluid (FF) of patients with a good response to ovarian stimulation, are also present in earlier stages of follicular development.DESIGN:
Observational study.SETTING:
Academic in vitro fertilization (IVF) unit. PATIENT(S) Patients of similar age and ovarian reserve, undergoing in vitro maturation (IVM; n=10) or IVF (n=22) cycles. INTERVENTION(S) None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) FF was collected from the first follicle aspirated in each ovary, and flow cytometry was used to define CD56+CD16- "proangiogenic" or CD56+CD16+ "cytotoxic" NK cells. RESULT(S) FF derived from antral follicles of patients undergoing IVM (maximum diameter 10 mm) showed a slightly higher abundance of "proangiogenic" NK cells compared with FF from preovulatory mature follicles (>18 mm) of patients undergoing IVF (5.4±1.3% vs. 3.0±1.1% of CD45+CD3- cells). Importantly, antral FF contained a significantly higher concentration of "cytotoxic" NK cells (11.4±2.3% vs. 3.7±0.9% of CD45+CD3- cells) compared with FF from mature follicles. CONCLUSION(S) "Proangiogenic" NK cells accumulate in ovarian follicles from as early as the antral follicular stage. Maturation of follicles is accompanied by a decrease in the population of "cytotoxic" NK cells that may have deleterious effects on follicular maturation.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Killer Cells, Natural
/
Follicular Fluid
/
Receptors, IgG
/
CD56 Antigen
/
Ovarian Follicle
Type of study:
Observational_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Fertil Steril
Year:
2011
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Israel