Expression of interferon-γ in decidual natural killer cells from women with hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy

Aim Hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (HDCP) is one of the most frequent and serious pregnancy‐related diseases, which is closely related to disorders of the maternal immune system, especially the local immune microenvironment of the maternal–fetal interface. Uterine decidual natural killer (dNK) cells are the major immune cells in the maternal–fetal interface and they play an important role in establishing and maintaining a normal pregnancy. The aim of this study was to investigate the phenotype and function of dNK cells from women with HDCP. Material and Methods Decidual tissues were collected from women with normal pregnancy (normal control group, n = 15 cases) and HDCP (HDCP group, n = 20 cases), respectively. The mononuclear cells were extracted from tissues and flow cytometry (FCM) was utilized to sort out dNK cells. The phenotypes of dNK cells (CD56brightCD16−CD3− vs CD56dimCD16+CD3−) were detected by FCM. After being co‐cultured with Phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐acetate, ionomycin and monensin, the expression level of interferon (IFN)‐γ in the dNK cells was detected by FCM. Results The phenotypes of dNK cells from the two groups were dominated by the CD56brightCD16−CD3− subset, with no significant statistical difference (P