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Functions of interferon tau as an immunological regulator for establishment of pregnancy

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Reproductive Medicine and Biology

Abstract

The establishment of a successful pregnancy requires a “fine quality embryo”, “maternal recognition of pregnancy”, and a “receptive uterus” during the period of conceptus implantation to the uterine endometrium. In ruminants, a conceptus cytokine, interferon tau (IFNT), a major cytokine produced by the peri-implantation trophectoderm, is known as a key factor for maternal recognition of pregnancy. IFNT can be considered one of the main factors in conceptus–uterus cross-talk, resulting in the rescue of ovarian corpus luteum (CL), induction of endometrial gene expressions, activation of residual immune cells, and recruitment of immune cells. Much research on IFNT has focused on the CL life-span (pregnancy recognition) and uterine gene expression through IFNT and related genes; however, immunological acceptance of the conceptus by the mother has not been well characterized. In this review, we will discuss the progress in IFNT and implantation research made by us and others for over 10 years, and relate this progress to pregnancy in mammalian species other than ruminants.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mr. Robert Moriarty for his critical reading of the manuscript. We also thank the following scientists who contributed to a series of these investigations at early stages: Drs. Kazuyoshi Hashizume, Toru Takahashi, Hitomi Takahashi, and Masashi Takahashi. This work was supported by a grant from the Program for Promotion of Basic Research Activities for Innovative Bioscience (BRAIN) to K.I. This work was also supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (23780002) to T.S. H.B. was supported as a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Reproduction, Veterinary Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Hanako Bai, Toshihiro Sakurai & Kazuhiko Imakawa

  2. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8397, Japan

    Hiroshi Fujiwara

  3. Zen-noh ET center, Kamishihoro, Hokkaido, 080-1407, Japan

    Atsushi Ideta & Yoshito Aoyagi

  4. Department of Animal Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996-4588, USA

    James D. Godkin

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  1. Hanako Bai
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  2. Toshihiro Sakurai
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  7. Kazuhiko Imakawa
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Correspondence to Kazuhiko Imakawa.

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Bai, H., Sakurai, T., Fujiwara, H. et al. Functions of interferon tau as an immunological regulator for establishment of pregnancy. Reprod Med Biol 11, 109–116 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12522-011-0117-2

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