Paternal antigen-specific proliferating regulatory T cells are increased in uterine-draining lymph nodes just before implantation and in pregnant uterus just after implantation by seminal plasma-priming in allogeneic mouse pregnancy

A fetus is a semi-allograft to the maternal immune system. During pregnancy, maternal T-cell tolerance against paternal allo-antigens is exhibited (Tafuri et al., 1995), so that natural allografted fetuses are not rejected by the maternal host. Regulatory T (Treg) cells play a central role in the induction and maintenance of tolerance. They control alloantigen-specific immune responsiveness (Sakaguchi et al., 1995) and express transcription factor Foxp3 as a master regulatory gene (Hori et al., 2003).
Source: Journal of Reproductive Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Source Type: research