# COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF PREGNANCY AND HISTOCOMPATIBILITY

> **NIH NIH R01** · CORNELL UNIVERSITY · 1994 · $159,318

## Abstract

This proposal would test the hypothesis that uterine lymphocyte population
have an immunoregulatory role in maintaining pregnancy.  It would also test
an extension of that hypothesis which maintains that such lymphocytes can,
in some instances contribute to early abortion.  These propositions are in
accord with morphological observations and circumstantial evidence based on
immunological data a d the results of breeding experiments in several
species.  However, compelling evidence has been hard to obtain because of
the difficulty in recovering uterine lymphocytes in sufficient numbers and
in functionally active condition to allow critical in vitro
experimentation.  Lymphocytes are relatively few in number and are
diffusely distributed in the pregnant uteri of most mammalian species,
including humans, rats and mice, the principal species studied so far, but
not in horses.  The situation in equids is unique to the extent that
maternal lymphocytes surround and invade the trophoblast cells which
comprise anatomically discrete structures, the endometrial cups.  We would
exploit that species-specific difference to characterize uterine
lymphocytes both antigenically and analysis would be undertaken which uses
a second unique feature of the equine model, namely, the ability of horses
and donkeys to cross-hybridize to produce interspecies mule and hinny
pregnancies in which the genetic differences between mother and fetus are
increased relative to intraspecies pregnancies.  The proposed research
would also encompass a study of early fetal death:  the abortion between
days 80-95 of gestation of donkey conceptuses established in horse mares by
embryo transfer.  This pregnancy loss is initiated by a non-genetic defect
in placental development and has a pathogenesis which appears to have
important immunological components.  The maternal lymphocytes which
comprise the cellular response to the fetal trophoblast in equine
endometrial cups in intraspecies horse pregnancy would be characterized
with respect to their antigenic phenotype and function and compared with
lymphocyte populations in interspecies mule pregnancy as well as those
which accumulate and appear to attack the entire trophoblast in failing
donkey-in-horse pregnancies.  Monoclonal antibodies which we have prepared
for this proposed, as well as others that we plan to generate, would be
used in these investigations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2197245
- **Project number:** 5R01HD015799-11
- **Recipient organization:** CORNELL UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** G56PUALJ3KT5
- **Principal Investigator:** DOUGLAS Francis ANTCZAK
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1994
- **Award amount:** $159,318
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1981-09-01 → 1996-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2197245

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2197245, COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF PREGNANCY AND HISTOCOMPATIBILITY (5R01HD015799-11). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-24 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2197245. Licensed CC0.

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