Svetlana Dambaeva, Berdie Lamarca,

Chicago, IL, USA

May 2026

(Further information will follow)

For further information please contact

Prof. Shigeru Saito

Professor and Chairman

Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Science and Research

Faculty of Medicine

University of Toyama

2630 Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194

Japan

Tel +81 76 434 7355

Fax +81 76 434 5036

E-mail: s30saito@med.u-toyama.ac.jp

Since a September, 1992, Nature article which read: “Can there be life without LIF?”, researchers now realize that the maternal immune system is both a foe (it can reject the conceptus) and a friend (immune cells and molecules are also necessary for successful pregnancy). Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF) when absent, prevents embryo implantation in rodents. From fecundation to parturition, immunity acts as a Janus, required but potentially dangerous. However, the complexity and the diversity of immunity in pregnancy deter many from entering the field. This book will try to give a complete overview of immunity from gametes till parturition, in brief, but with complete chapters and subsections, each written by leading specialists in the field.

The importance of the topic relies not only on “the riddle of the fetal allograft”, which is per se fascinating, but on its consequences, linked to the development of IVF and in general, Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) / Medicine. Since the discovery that there would not be (mammalian) life without LIF, it has become clear that in general, Immune Molecules, and most specifically a transient post mating inflammatory reaction are required for successful implantation. Disruptions of this process can lead to implantation failure / sterility.

In later stages of pregnancy immunological cells, mostly of the innate immune system, control formation of local spiral arteries. Finally, a state of tolerance establishes itself, whose “break” leads to immune abortion. Also the vascular bed is further transformed and enlarged, till delivery, and here again “immunological cytokines” do play a major role and can eventually cause immune mediated abortion.

Failure of, not just, the cytokine and cell recognition mediated dialogue, but also of the pre and peri-implantation “preparation of the uterus”, as stated, leads to sterility, early pregnancy loss and recurrent abortions. There is also an increasingly stronger series of argument to implicate immunology in pre-eclampsia. Further still, immunology is also implicated in the control of local infection, mother to child transmission of pathogens (notably, but not limited to, HIV). Finally, pregnancy is the only known physiological allorecognition phenomenon where the once named “suppressor T cells,” now re-emerged as “regulatory T cells”, play a cardinal role.

This E-book provides a complete compendium of gynecological immunology, spanning from fecundation to delivery. Topics also include the role of various cell types (such as T regs and NK cells) in implantation and uterine changes as well as the genetic regulation of immunological processes. As such it will be of interest not only to mainstream and reproductive immunologists, but more importantly, clinicians in obstetrics and gynecology.

Contents

1. Innate and Adaptive Immunity in the Human Female Reproductive

Tract: Bridging the Menstrual Cycle with Pregnancy

Charles R. Wira, Mickey V. Patel, Mimi Ghosh and Zheng Shen,

Marta Rodríguez-García

2. Immunity and Sperm: Auto- and Iso Immunization

Koji Koyama

3. Contraceptive Vaccines: Past, Present and Future

Satish K. Gupta

4. Immune Markers of Oocyte and Embryo Quality

Nathalie Lédée

5. MHC Antigens Expression/ Function at the Embryonic Interface

Part A: Major Histocompatibility Complex Class I Unique Expression in Human Trophoblast: Facts, Questions and Controversies

Philippe Le Bouteiller

Part B: Expression of MHC-I Proteins by the Placenta of Domestic and Laboratory Animals

Heloisa M. Rutigliano, Aaron J. Thomas and Christopher J. Davies

6. Immunology of Implantation, Implantation Failure and Pregnancy

Part A: Regulators of Early Invasion of Trophoblast Cells

Pankash Shuman and Satish K. Gupta

Part B: Dendritic Cells: New Insights in Reproduction

Sandra M. Blois, Petra C. Arck and Gabriel Barrientos

Part C: A Summary of Cytokine Networks and Embryo: A Short Overview

Gerard Chaouat

Part D: Human Implantation

Nathalie Lédée and Mona Rahmati

Part E: Interleukin-10: A Vascular and Anti-Inflammatory Cytokine Connecting the Pieces of the Pregnancy Puzzle

Satyan Kalkunte, Tania Nevers, Eliana Lippe and Surendra Sharma

Part F: Functional Duality of Mouse Uterine Natural Killer Cell

in Pregnancy

Patricia D.A. Lima, Valdemar A. Paffaro Jr. and Aureo T. Yamada

Part G: Human Uterine Natural Killer Cells. Friend or Foes of Pregnancy Outcomes

Eliana M O Lippe, Aureo T Yamada and Surendra Sharma

Part H: Factors Elevated during Sexual Intercourse Act to Assist Pregnancy Outcome

Mukesh K. Jaiswal, Timothy M. Millers, Alice Gilman-Sachs and

Kenneth D. Beaman

Part I: Substances Secreted by the Preimplantation Human Embryo

Georgi Georgiev, Jana Pastuschek, Stefan Neubeck and Udo R. Markert

Part J: Placental Interferons, Implantation and Pregnancy

Fuller W. Bazer

Part K: Pathophysiology of the Complement System at Feto-Maternal Interface

Roberta Bulla, Chiara Agostinis and Francesco Tedesco

Part L: Toll-like Receptors and Nod-Like Receptors in Gestational Tissues

Vikki M. Abrahams

7. Tolerance to the Fetal Allograft

Part A: Is the Fetus an Allograft and is it Object of Immunological Tolerance?

Gérard Chaouat

Part B: Immunoregulation at the Interface by Placental Suppressor Factors

Gérard Chaouat

Part C: Decidual Transforming Growth Factors and Tolerance Signalling Molecules

David A. Clark and Reginald M. Gorczynski

Part D: Role of Regulatory T Cells in Human Reproduction

Leonardo Fainboim

Part E: the Role of Cytotoxic Natural Killer (NK) Cells and Regulatory NK Cells in Pregnancy

Shigeru Saito, Tomoko Shima, Akitoshi Nakashima and Yi Lin

Part F: Pathways for Activating Implantation Tolerance in Early Pregnancy

Sarah A. Robertson, David J. Sharkey, John E. Schjenken, Alison S.

Care and Lachlan M. Moldenhauer

8. Immuno Endocrine Interactions: An Example

Progestagen Treatment for Threatened and Recurrent Abortion; Molecular

Mechanisms

Julia Szekeres-Bartho, Melinda Halasz, Beata Polgar and Agnes

Bogdan

9. The Maternal Inflammatory Response to Pregnancy

Jennifer H. Southcombe and Ian L. Sargent

10. Are there Abortions of Immunological Origin?

Part A: Animal Models of Spontaneous Immunological

Abortions

Gérard Chaouat

Part B: Immunology and Recurrent Pregnancy Loss. Epidemiological Aspects in Humans

Ole B. Christiansen

Part C: Immune Treatments Recent Developments

Edward E. Winger and Jane L. Reed

Part D: Debates on Immunotherapy for Recurrent Pregnancy

Failure

David A. Clark

Part E: Debates on Immunotherapy for Recurrent Pregnancy

Failure

Gérard Chaouat

11. Impact of the Immune System on Trophoblast Invasion and

Uteroplacental Blood Flow

Raj Raghupathy

12. Epidemiology and Immunology of Preeclampsia

Part A: Preeclampsia, Plague of Human Reproduction. The Role of Paternity and Immunological Implications

Pierre-Yves Robillard and Gustaaf Dekker

Part B: Animal Models for a Cure for Preeclampsia

Guillermina Girardi

13. Autoimmunity in Association with Pregnancy

Nobert Gleicher

14. The Control of HIV-1 In Utero Transmission at the Materno-Foetal Interface by Immunological Determinants

Héloïse Quillay, Romain Marlin, Marion Duriez, Marie-Thérèse

Nugeyre and Elisabeth Menu

Annex 1: Immunology for Assisted Reproductive Medicine

Practitioners: A Comprehensive Overview

Ae-Ra Han, Alice Gilman-Sachs, Joon W. Kim and Joanne Kwak-

Kim.
Annex 2: Glossary
Conclusion
Gérard Chaouat