Markayla Bell

Editor’s summary The human uterus cyclically remodels and sheds its lining, the endometrium, taking with it uterine immune cells, which are critical for implantation receptivity and spiral artery remodeling. It is not clear from where uterine immune cells are reconstituted nor what those cells contribute to disorders of pregnancy like preeclampsia. In a pair of papers, Strunz et al. and Asiimwe et al.

Abstract Human uterine natural killer cells (uNKs) are a tissue-resident, innate lymphocyte population that have critical roles in supporting pregnancy health. uNKs derive from circulatory cells in the peripheral blood which immigrate into the endometrium and become resident as they reconstitute the uterine lining after menses. How tissue-resident uterine NK cells arise from blood-based precursor cells is unknown.

Abstract The idea of tissue resident immune populations is a concept extending to the innate lymphocyte population of NK cells. One such population of tissue resident NK cell is decidual natural killer cells, which are critical for pregnancy success but the origin and development of these cells in the human uterus remain unclear. Here we use various single-cell approaches to identify the transcriptional programs governing uterine NK cell development in humans.