Intracellular cytokine expression of peripheral blood natural killer cell subsets in women with recurrent spontaneous abortions and implantation failures

Objective To investigate the cytokine expression by peripheral blood natural killer (NK) cells of women with recurrent spontaneous abortion (SAB) or implantation failures. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting University clinic. Patient(s) Twenty-five women with recurrent SAB, 20 women with implantation failures, and 15 healthy controls. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Cytokine expression (interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α, interleukin [IL]-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-13, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor [GM-CSF]) in NK cells and their subsets (CD56dim and CD56bright ). Result(s) Proportion (percentage) of CD56bright /interferon-γ+ /TNF-α+ cells was significantly higher in women with recurrent SAB and implantation failures as compared with that of healthy controls. Proportion of CD56bright /IL-4+ /IL-10+ cells was very low (