Via practica 3/2006
PREGNANCY, FETUS AND IMUNITY
Pregnancy is a unique event in which a genetically and immunologic ally foreign foetus usually survives to full term without apparent rejection by the mother immune system. Several mechanisms have been discovered: role of hormones; fetal factors such as trophoblast cell properties and altered MHC expression; maternal factors such as specialized natural killer cells and shifting of the T-helper cell cytokine profile from type 1 to type 2.
Keywords: immune system, hormonal system, MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex), NK (Natural Killer) cells, cytokines.
