About this Research Topic
Reproductive immunology aims to understand the interactions between maternal immune and reproduction systems. Many disorders associated with the reproductive system, especially in women, are caused by dysregulation of innate or adaptive immune processes leading to infertility, recurrent miscarriage, and gynecological cancers.
During pregnancy, paternally inherited genes encode fetal antigens recognized as “foreign” by the maternal immune system. Hence, active induction of immune tolerance is critical at the maternal-fetal interface. Molecular mechanisms maintaining maternal tolerance to fetal tissues, such as indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO), and the non-classical MHC molecule, HLA-G, were discovered in the placenta, but their significance also extends to other immune-mediated diseases and to the survival of organ transplants. Since foreign alloantigens expressed by life-saving donor tissues incite destructive responses by the immune system of transplant recipients, increasing our knowledge of maternal immune tolerance would also be relevant to organ transplantation.
The goal of this Research Topic is to describe current advances in the field of reproductive immunology and how these new insights may be exploited to improve the protection of transplanted organs and tissues. Both Original Research articles and Reviews covering the following topics will be considered in this collection:
(1) Immune mechanisms in reproductive biology
(a) Novel immune tolerance mechanisms at the maternal-fetal interface.
(b) Elucidatingplacental immune-tolerance mechanisms including genetic, epigenetic, and metabolic pathways.
(c) Regulation in inflammation in Endometriosis and abortion.
(d) Immune mechanisms in infertility and contraceptive vaccination.
(2) Application of tolerogenic mechanisms in organ transplants.
(a) Exploring potential roles for placental tolerogenic mechanisms in transplant protection
(b) Translational and clinical research in improving transplant survival by exploiting placental tolerogenic mechanisms
During pregnancy, paternally inherited genes encode fetal antigens recognized as “foreign” by the maternal immune system. Hence, active induction of immune tolerance is critical at the maternal-fetal interface. Molecular mechanisms maintaining maternal tolerance to fetal tissues, such as indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO), and the non-classical MHC molecule, HLA-G, were discovered in the placenta, but their significance also extends to other immune-mediated diseases and to the survival of organ transplants. Since foreign alloantigens expressed by life-saving donor tissues incite destructive responses by the immune system of transplant recipients, increasing our knowledge of maternal immune tolerance would also be relevant to organ transplantation.
The goal of this Research Topic is to describe current advances in the field of reproductive immunology and how these new insights may be exploited to improve the protection of transplanted organs and tissues. Both Original Research articles and Reviews covering the following topics will be considered in this collection:
(1) Immune mechanisms in reproductive biology
(a) Novel immune tolerance mechanisms at the maternal-fetal interface.
(b) Elucidatingplacental immune-tolerance mechanisms including genetic, epigenetic, and metabolic pathways.
(c) Regulation in inflammation in Endometriosis and abortion.
(d) Immune mechanisms in infertility and contraceptive vaccination.
(2) Application of tolerogenic mechanisms in organ transplants.
(a) Exploring potential roles for placental tolerogenic mechanisms in transplant protection
(b) Translational and clinical research in improving transplant survival by exploiting placental tolerogenic mechanisms
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
