The Relationship Of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor And The Balance Of Treg/Th17Cytokines In Unexplained Spontaneous Abortion

BackgroundSpontaneous abortion is a common complication of pregnancy before28weeks, and the factors contribute to this are complicated. Immunologic factorsstudies indicate that normal pregnancy maintain mainly dependes on theformation of immune tolerance， once this is broken， it will lead topathological pregnancy. And the regulation of T regulatory/Th17balance isvery important for the immune tolerance. The shift of Treg/Th17balance tothe Th17cells contributes to the incidence and development of spontaneousabortion, but its exact mechanism is unclear. The ligand-activatedtranscription factor aryl hydrocarbon receptor is involved in Treg/Th17balance regulation, but its role in regulation the immune balance ofunexplained spontaneous abortion is rarely studied.ObjectiveThis study was to investigate the expression of aryl hydrocarbon receptorin deciduas of unexplained spontaneous abortion, and explore the correlationwith Treg/Th17cytokines balance of decidua.Methods23unexplained spontaneous abortion women were set as the abortiongroup, while30normal early pregnant women as normal controls. Real-time PCR were employed to detect the expression of AhR, Foxp3, IL-10andROR-γt mRNA in deciduas.ResultsThe expression of AhR mRNA in deciduas in abortion group wassignificantly higher than that in control group．Treg cytokines (Foxp3, IL-10)expression in deciduas in the control group was significantly higher thanspontaneous abortion patients, while Th17transcription factor (ROR-γ)expression in deciduas in spontaneous abortion was significantly higher thannormal pregnant women. AhR mRNA expression was positively correlatedwith the level of ROR-γ both in control and abortion groups. However，AhRmRNA expression was little correlated with Foxp3nor IL-10mRNAexpression in both groups.ConclusionsIn deciduas of unexplained spontaneous abortion， Th17cytokinesexpression and AhR expression was significant higher than that of normalpregnant women, while Treg cytokines expression was much lower. Theincreased AhR expression positively correlated with Th17cytokinesup-regulating.