Research On The Correlation Between UNK Cells And Female Unexplained Infertility

Objective:Uterine natural killer cells(u NK cells),as the most abundant white blood cells in the decidua of early pregnancy,which dominate the decidual immune pattern,their number and functional changes may affect reproductive success.To study the relationship between u NK cells and infertility,so as to provide new insights and methods for the diagnosis and treatment of female infertility.Methods:Some endometrial tissues were randomly selected and collected from women with infertility who underwent hysteroscopic surgery at the Second Hospital of Jilin University from October 2022 to January 2023,and an appropriate amount of endometrial tissues were randomly collected from healthy married and fertile women during the same period,the percentage of CD56+CD3-NK cells and CD16~+CD69~+NK cells in their endometrium was detected by FACS.The data obtained were analyzed by statistical software SPSS26.0,ROC analyses were performed to determine the sensitivity and specificity,P<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.Results:1.In the infertile group,the age,menstrual cycle,menstrual duration,sample collection time and BMI were 32.87±4.02 years,27.11±2.63 days,4.87±1.30 days,20.79±2.26 days and 20.65±0.70 kg/m2 respectively.In the healthy control group,the age,menstrual cycle,menstrual duration,sample collection time and BMI were32.08±3.37 years,26.92,5.67±1.61 days,19.92±2.71 days and 20.32±0.53days,respectively.There was no significant difference in the above general data between the two groups(P>0.05);2.The percentage of CD56~+CD3~-NK cells in the endometrium was 20.42(13.63,41.58)in the infertility group and 8.20(5.83,9.15)in the control group,the percentage of CD16~+CD69~+NK cells in the endometrium was 45.30(22.20,72.83)in the infertile group and 10.75(3.58,17.28)in the healthy control group,the percentage of CD56~+CD3~-NK cells and CD16~+CD69~+NK cells in the endometrium of the infertile group were significantly higher than those of the healthy control group(P<0.001).3.The AUC of CD56~+CD3~-NK%is 0.880(95%CI:0.760～0.963),the sensitivity is 84.20%,and the specificity is 91.70%(P<0.001);The AUC of CD16~+CD69~+NK%was 0.862(95%CI:0.785～0.976),the sensitivity was 78.90%,and the specificity was100.00%(P<0.001),Both have certainly predictive value.Conclusions:1.The increase of the percentage of CD56~+CD3~-NK cells and CD16~+CD69~+NK cells in the endometrium is related to infertility,and they may serve as immune risk markers for unexplained infertility in women.2.The upregulation of CD16~+CD69~+NK cells’percentage suggests the activation of local immunity in some patients with unexplained infertility and could be a therapeutic target.