Reproductive biology is the mother of other areas in biology, as “Reproduction” had been the main strategy of simple and higher organisms to evolve. The utmost fitness in evolutionary tree is biological fitness, in being beneficial for successful reproduction. In this connection, reproductive sciences have been the focus of many research programs. Specifically, reproductive immunology has received the attention of researchers more than ever. This trend is largely due to the industrialization of societies, the increase in the age of marriage, and as a result, the decrease in fertility rates. On the other hand, despite significant advances in the field of artificial reproductive technologies, low success rate of embryo transfer is the main limiting factor for in vitro fertilization treatment. Therefore, understanding the immunological mechanisms of implantation and the adaptation of the immune cells of the pregnancy site, which leads to the maternal immunological tolerance to fetal antigens, is of utmost importance.

Immunological alterations of the female reproductive tract commences from the first exposure to seminal plasma leading to molecular and cellular changes that increase the chance of conception and pregnancy through modulation of inflammatory responses and induction of paternal antigen-specific regulatory T cells. Steroid hormone-directed decidualization of endometrium is the first step for embryo implantation and placental development, which eventually leads to immunoregulation of the immune cells residing in the endometrium in favor of pregnancy. Following placental development, an extensive crosstalk begins among developing trophoblasts, decidualized endometrial stromal cells and the decidual immune cells and establishes a unique triangle for induction of maternal immune tolerance. All the processes of entire pregnancy are under the tight control of inflammation regulatory mechanisms. While acute inflammation is a triggering mechanism of embryo implantation and parturition, cell senescence associated with chronic inflammation in pregnancy-related disorders such endometriosis, chronic endometritis and hydrosalpinx is destructive and can lead to infertility or abortion.

This Research Topic of Frontiers in Immunology focuses on the local immunoregulatory mechanisms in both innate and adaptive arms of the immune system leading to successful implantation and placental development. High throughput techniques such as metabolomics and transcriptomics focusing on the local immunomodulatory molecules and maternal diseases that disrupt immune tolerance at the feto-maternal interface fall within the scope of this special issue. We accept Original Research and Review articles including but not limited to the following subtopics:

1) The impact of seminal plasma on modulation of endometrial receptivity and induction of maternal tolerance to the conceptus

2) Immune cells and immunoregulatory cells at the feto-maternal interface in normal pregnancy and pregnancy-related disorders

3) The role of inflammation in physiological (normal pregnancy) and pathological (infertility, pregnancy loss and pre-term birth) outcomes of pregnancy

4) Immunological adaptation and mediators of labor

5) Placental proteome in health and diseases

6) Decidualization and its role in regulation of endometrial immune system and receptivity

7) Mutual cross talk between trophoblasts and endometrial immune system

8) Systems biology and high throughput techniques focusing on the local immunomodulatory molecules and diagnostic approaches for pregnancy-related disorders

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Frontiers in Immunology

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