The anti-inflammatory role of placental Hofbauer cells is altered in patients with chorioamnionitis: Are CYP2C8 and soluble epoxide hydrolase involved in immunomodulation?

Aims: Hofbauer cells (HBCs) are placental macrophages playing various roles during normal and complicated pregnancies, and of the latter, chorioamnionitis is the most frequent.

Methods: In placenta with chorioamnionitis, we examined immunohistochemical expression profiles of IL-1β, IL-10, and their potential regulators, CYP2C8 and soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), in Hofbauer cells and compared the results with our previously published data for normal placenta.

Results: We found that the expression profiles of the studied proteins in Hofbauer cells in chorioamnionitis differs from normal placenta. In chorioamnionitis, HBCs showed a moderate expression of IL-1β together with a weak expression of IL-10 and CYP2C8. Contrary to normal placenta, HBCs in chorioamnionitis express sEH. We demonstrated a moderate positive correlation between the expression of CYP2C8 and sEH in chorioamnionitis (Spearman r = 0.5654), suggesting enhanced degradation of anti-inflammatory epoxyeicosatrienoic acids. Moreover, the relations of IL-1β and IL-10 to CYP2C8, previously described in normal placenta, disappeared. Furthermore, a weak expression of anti-inflammatory IL-10 in chorioamnionitis was accompanied by change in circularity of HBCs (Spearman r = 0.8193).

Conclusion: Taken together, these findings suggest a possible alteration of the anti-inflammatory role of HBCs and its regulation in chorioamnionitis.