Open AccessA COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CD 56+ NK (NATURAL KILLER) CELLS IN ENDOMETRIAL TISSUE OF NORMAL AND INFERTILE PATIENTS
Author(s) -
Papia Sultana,
O.Okendrajit Singh,
Gayatri Devi Pukhrambam,
R.K Praneshwari Devi,
Ph. Madhubala Devi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of medical and biomedical studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2589-8698
pISSN - 2589-868X
DOI - 10.32553/ijmbs.v4i1.884
Subject(s) - endometrium , medicine , infertility , curettage , immune system , uterus , natural killer cell , endometrial biopsy , biopsy , andrology , pregnancy , biology , pathology , immunology , cytotoxic t cell , in vitro , biochemistry , genetics
The endometrium is the special epithelial lining of the uterine cavity which plays important roles in different phases of menstrual cycle as well as in implantation process. The natural killer (NK) cells are a type of lymphocytes circulating in peripheral blood, named because of their effector functions in killing target cells. Immune cells that share similar phenotypic characteristic but are poor killers which populate the uterine lining at implantation and during early pregnancy when the placenta is established and are identified by the surface marker CD56+.
Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study is to evaluate the mean cell count of CD56+ uterine natural killer (uNK) cells in endometrial tissue specimens and determine the association of the histopathological findings with CD56+ mean cell count.
Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study, 50 endometrial tissue samples (biopsy and dilatation and curettage specimen) received in the department of Pathology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Imphal during the period between September, 2016 and August, 2018 were selected and included in the study. Twenty-nine cases with history of primary and secondary infertility were included in the test group and 21 cases with no history of abortions and miscarriages constituted the control group. CD56+ cells were stained using mouse monoclonal CD56+ antibody and counted manually under ten high power fields (40X) and mean cell count was calculated and statistically analysed.
Results: The age of the study group ranged from 18 to 45 years (Mean ± SE; 35.88 ± 1.13). The mean number of CD56+ NK cells was higher in control groups 56.62 ± 5.683 (Mean ± SEM; N=21) as compared to the mean number of CD 56+ NK cells in the test group 38.20 ±3.958 (Mean ± SEM; N=29). The difference was statistically significant (difference of 1.195 with 95% confidence interval of 0.536 to 3.294, p = 0.008).
Conclusion: Mean number of CD 56+ uNK cells, show significant correlation with primary infertility and repeated miscarriages (p=0.022). CD56+ NK cells may have a role in the maintenance of normal pregnancy. It might be a useful marker for predicting risk of miscarriages and infertility.
Keywords: CD 56+, Natural killer (NK) cells, Endometrial tissue, Primary and secondary infertility.