Abnormal eNK cells contribute to endometrial fibrosis in intrauterine adhesions patients

Abstract

Endometrial natural killer cells (eNK) at the proliferative phase are one of the major lymphocytes in the endometrium, but their phenotype and function remain elucidated. Here, we demonstrated that eNK cells had three subtypes and were different from peripheral blood NK (pbNK) and decidual NK (dNK) cells. They played an important role in maintaining the homeostasis of the endometrium through preventing endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) from the differentiation into myofibroblasts physiologically. However, in the fibrotic endometria of patients with intrauterine adhesions (IUA), eNK cells were significantly decreased and highly negatively correlated with an increase in myofibroblasts. In vitro experiments showed that eNK cells could inhibit the differentiation of ESCs into myofibroblasts and promote the dedifferentiation of myofibroblasts, in which the main effector molecules from eNK cells was Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2). PGD2 downregulated the expression of ZNF521 to decrease profibrotic protein synthesis. Furthermore, we confirmed the anti-endometrial fibrosis effect of eNK cells and its mechanism in an IUA-like murine model. These findings reveal an important role of eNK cells in endometrial homeostasis and provide potential therapeutic approaches for IUA patients.