Open Access

ARTICLE

The expression of interleukin-15 and interleukin-18 by human term placenta is not affected by lipopolysaccharide

Alaa Amash^1,4,*, Mahmoud Huleihel^1,4,*, Sheiner Eyal^2,4, Ester Maor^3,4, Leslie Myatt⁵, Gershon Holcberg^2,4,*

1 Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology and Immunology and BGU Cancer Research Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
3 Institute of Pathology, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
4 Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
5 University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, OH, USA

* Corresponding Author: G. Holcberg,

European Cytokine Network 2007, 18(4), 188-194. https://doi.org/10.1684/ecn.2007.0102

Accepted 20 September 2007;

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the stimulatory effect of the inflammatory agent lipopolysac-charide (LPS) on the capacity of human term placenta to secrete interleukin (IL)-15 and IL-18. Isolated placental cotyledons from normal human term deliveries were dually perfused for ten hours with perfusion medium alone (n = 5) or with perfusion medium containing LPS (1 lg/kg perfused placental tissue) (n = 5). Placental tissue was collected from three different placental compartments (amnion, chorion, and placenta) before and after perfusion. The placental tissues collected were homogenized and examined for IL-15 and IL-18 by ELISA. In addition, formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded sections from term placentas before perfusion were stained by immuno-histochemistry to characterize the cellular origin of placental IL-15 and IL-18. Statistical significance was determined using paired/unpaired t-test. p < 0.05 was considered significant. Our results show that IL-15 and IL-18 are produced more by chorionic tissue, as compared to the amnion and placental tissues. Moreover, we show that IL-15 and IL-18 are expressed by epithelial cells of the amnion, chorionic cells of the chorion and decidual cells of the decidua. However, IL-15, but not IL-18, was expressed also by syncytiotrophoblasts of the villi. Perfusion of LPS did not affect the capacity of amnion, chorion and placental tissues to secrete IL-15 and IL-18, as compared to control. The expression of IL-15 and IL-18 in the different compartments of the human placenta suggests a possible role for these two cytokines in normal placental development, pregnancy and labor. Moreover, our results indicate that IL-15 and IL-18 are not part of the mechanism of the response of human placenta to LPS.

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