ABSTRACT
The endometrium is remarkable in two respects – first, in its capacity to undergo regular and extensive tissue growth, breakdown, and repair; and, secondly, as a mucosal tissue able to discriminate between and respond appropriately to foreign agents as disparate as semen, the conceptus, and sexually transmitted pathogens. Cytokines and chemokines have central roles in these immune and tissue remodeling processes that are essential for normal endometrial function. They provide the intercellular communication signals that govern leukocyte recruitment and regulate induction of immune responses. Through targeting cell lineages other than leukocytes, including cells in the preimplantation embryo and placenta, cytokines are also key mediators of the tissue restructuring that accompanies the menstrual cycle and pregnancy (Figure 35.1). Disruption or imbalance in the endometrial cytokine-leukocyte axis is a principal factor in the etiology of infertility, endometriosis, and uterine bleeding disorders, and in diseases of pregnancy related to ‘shallow’ placentation.1-4
This chapter reviews the synthesis of endometrial cytokines and chemokines and their roles in the immunobiology of this tissue, focusing on data from the interstitial implanting species, particularly the mouse and human. Two principal communication pathways are highlighted – regulation of endometrial leukocyte populations by cytokines derived from other uterine cell lineages and the conceptus; and conversely, regulation of uterine epithelial and stromal cells, and cells of the pre-and postimplantation embryo, by cytokines of leukocyte origin. Preceding this is a brief description of
the cytokine family of molecules, with emphasis on those characteristics that are of special relevance to the physiology of the endometrium.
