Maroa Dridi
,
Alexandra Papoudou-Bai
,
Panagiotis Kanavaros
,
Marine Perard
,
Alix Clemenson
,
Celine Chauleur
,
Michel Peoc'h
,
Georgia Karpathiou
ABSTRACT
Gestational trophoblastic diseases (GTD) are a heterogeneous group of lesions, the most frequent being the hydatidiform mole (HM). HM are usually cured after surgical treatment or after chemotherapy in the case of a persistent trophoblastic activity. Immunotherapy could be an interesting alternative as a first line or second line treatment. However, only a few studies have explored the immune microenvironment of hydatidiform moles.In the present retrospective study including 19 complete and 17 partial moles, we examined the composition of the immune cell microenvironment by immunohistochemistry using the following antibodies: CD4, CD8, CD56, PD-L1, S100, CD83, CD207, CD123, CD1a, CD11c, CD163, PAX5 and MUM1.In the decidual cells compartment, CD11c+ cells were the predominant population, followed by CD4+ cells, CD56+ NK cells, CD163+ macrophages and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In the endometrial glands compartment, CD11c+ cells were the predominant population, followed by CD4+ cells, CD56+ NK cells, and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In the villi compartment, the predominant immune cells were CD4+ cells followed by CD163+ macrophages and CD11c+ cells. Statistically significant differences were observed between partial and complete moles in all three compartments.The immune microenvironment of hydatidiform moles is immunosuppressive, but it differs between complete and partial moles, the latter having a higher infiltrate of cells with phenotypes suggestive of immunosuppressive activities.