Reproductive immunology

Pregnancy is a period in which the mother has to alter her immune system so that it does not reject her developing baby. During almost the entire period of pregnancy the mother's immune cells are exposed to "foreign" placenta tissue.

The Perinatal Research Group has discovered that maternal T-cells are profoundly altered in pregnancy with a major regulating switch called Nuclear Factor –κB being turned off.

The Group is currently assessing the regulation of Th1 immune responses by T-cells throughout pregnancy in normal pregnancies and pregnancies complicated with recurrent pregnancy loss and determining the temporal down-regulation of the transcription factors Nuclear Factor -κB and T-bet in T-cell sub-populations throughout gestation.

The aim of research into the area of reproductive immunology is to:

• develop new strategies to combat pregnancy complications and through identifying the molecules responsible for immune modulation in pregnancy
• format a basis for development of new treatments to combat immune conditions.