Chemokine blockade

A fetus must be sheltered from any inflammatory battle taking place in the mother. Now, Yeny Martinez de la Torre, Alberto Mantovani (University of Milan, Italy), and colleagues report that a decoy receptor in the placenta captures potentially dangerous pro-inflammatory chemokines from the mother. This scavenging suppresses inflammation and prevents fetal loss.

Decoy receptors such as the D6 receptor bind many inflammatory chemokines without activating intracellular signaling. Instead, the receptor and chemokine are internalized and the chemokine is destroyed.

The Italian group confirmed that D6 is expressed in the placenta, specifically on the apical side of syncytial trophoblasts. This is the side looking at the maternal blood and thus “a strategic location at the very interface between mother and fetus,” says Mantovani.

To test the function of D6, the team injected pro-inflammatory LPS. The response was greater...