Open AccessSingle-cell reconstruction of the early maternal–fetal interface in humans
Author(s) -
Roser VentoTormo,
Mirjana Efremova,
Rachel A. Botting,
Margherita Y. Turco,
Miquel Vento-Tormo,
Kerstin B. Meyer,
Jong-Eun Park,
Emily Stephenson,
Krzysztof Polański,
Ângela Gonçalves,
Lucy Gardner,
Staffan Holmqvist,
Johan Henriksson,
Angela E. Zou,
Andrew Sharkey,
Ben Millar,
Barbara A. Innes,
Laura D. Wood,
Anna Wilbrey-Clark,
Rebecca Payne,
Martin A. Ivarsson,
Steven Lisgo,
Andrew Filby,
David H. Rowitch,
Judith N. Bulmer,
Gavin J. Wright,
Michael J.T. Stubbington,
Muzlifah Haniffa,
Ashley Moffett,
Sarah A. Teichmann
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
nature
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 15.993
H-Index - 1226
eISSN - 1476-4687
pISSN - 0028-0836
DOI - 10.1038/s41586-018-0698-6
Subject(s) - decidua , placentation , trophoblast , biology , stromal cell , placenta , microbiology and biotechnology , chemokine , immunology , fetus , pregnancy , immune system , cancer research , genetics
During early human pregnancy the uterine mucosa transforms into the decidua, into which the fetal placenta implants and where placental trophoblast cells intermingle and communicate with maternal cells. Trophoblast-decidual interactions underlie common diseases of pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia and stillbirth. Here we profile the transcriptomes of about 70,000 single cells from first-trimester placentas with matched maternal blood and decidual cells. The cellular composition of human decidua reveals subsets of perivascular and stromal cells that are located in distinct decidual layers. There are three major subsets of decidual natural killer cells that have distinctive immunomodulatory and chemokine profiles. We develop a repository of ligand-receptor complexes and a statistical tool to predict the cell-type specificity of cell-cell communication via these molecular interactions. Our data identify many regulatory interactions that prevent harmful innate or adaptive immune responses in this environment. Our single-cell atlas of the maternal-fetal interface reveals the cellular organization of the decidua and placenta, and the interactions that are critical for placentation and reproductive success.