Glycan expression in chorionic villi from histocultures of women with early-onset preeclampsia: Immunomodulatory effects on peripheral natural killer cells

• Published in: Journal of reproductive immunology Vol. 142; p. 103212
• Main Authors: Campuzano, Marisol, Bueno-Sánchez, Julio, Agudelo-Jaramillo, Bernardo, Quintana-Castillo, Juan C., Chaouat, Gerard C., Maldonado-Estrada, Juan G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01-11-2020
• Subjects: Chorionic villii; Cytotoxicity NK cells; Polysaccharides; Preeclampsia (MESH-verified); HELLP; BeWo; H&E; MTT; Preeclampsia (MESH-verified); IL-10; MFI; IFN-γ; Chorionic villii; Polysaccharides; uNK; TNF-α; PE; DiOC18; FCS; TGF-β; β-hCG; Cytotoxicity NK cells; NK
• ISSN: 0165-0378; 1872-7603
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jri.2020.103212

•Glycosylation still remains as an unknown topic in the physiology of pregnancy.•Histocultures of placental villi and BeWo cells were assessed for the expression of glycans.•NK cells/BeWo cells cocultures showed that CD56Bright NK subset increase IFN-γ and TGF-β.•Histocultures of pleeclamptic placenta exhibits differences in the expression of terminal glycans.•Mannose expression was significantly increased in histocultures of pleeclamptic placenta.•N-glycans could modulate the activity of NK cells by syncytiotrophoblast recognition.
New evidence suggests that glycan expression in placental cells of women with invasive disorders of pregnancy differs from that in normal pregnant women. Hypothesizing that modifications of glycan expression could account for the course of preeclampsia, we established placental villous histocultures and compared glycan expression in women with preeclampsia with that in normal pregnant women and also in syncytialized BeWo cells, and we tested the effect of glycan expression on the functional phenotypes of circulating natural killer (NK) cells. Histocultures of third-trimester placentae from women with preeclampsia and full-term placentae from healthy pregnant women and BeWo choriocarcinoma cells were assessed for the expression of terminal glycans by lectin-binding assays. Circulating NK cells from nonpregnant healthy donors were tested in vitro for their cytotoxic activity and intracellular cytokine content. Histocultures from women with preeclampsia expressed significantly more mannose than did those from healthy pregnant women. Both histocultures and BeWo cells expressed terminal fucose, mannose, sialic acid, and N -acetylgalactosamine, although mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) expression was lower in choriocarcinoma cells than in cells from histocultures. Cocultures of circulating NK cells with K562 target cells resulted in a dose-dependent cytotoxicity effect, but the use of BeWo cells as target reduced cytotoxic activity; this reduction was not affected by syncytialization. Histocultures of placental villous tissue of women with preeclampsia expressed high levels of terminal mannose. We proposethat placental glycans may modulate the functional activity of circulating NK cells in the context of systemic inflammatory response in preeclampsia.