Nature Medicine
4, 303 - 308 (1998)
doi:10.1038/nm0398-303
Infertility in female mice lacking the receptor for interleukin 11 is due to a defective uterine response to implantationLorraine Robb1, 2, Ruili Li1, Lynne Hartley1, Harshal H. Nandurkar1, 2, Frank Koentgen1
& C. Glenn Begley1−3
1Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, 3050 Victoria, Australia
2Cooperative Research Centre for Cellular Growth Factors, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, 3050 Victoria, Australia
3Bone Marrow Research Laboratories, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, 3050 Victoria, Australia
4e-mail: robb@wehi.edu.au During early pregnancy, in response to the implanting embryo, the surrounding uterine stroma undergoes a dramatic transformation into a specialized tissue known as the decidua. The de-cidua encapsulates the developing embryo, facilitating nutrient transfer and limiting tro-phoblast invasion. Here we show that female mice with a null mutation of the interleukin-11 receptor alpha chain are infertile because of defective decidualization. A temporal analysis revealed IL-11 expression is maximal in the normal pregnant uterus at the time of decidualization, and in situ hybridization studies showed expression of the IL-11 and the IL-11 receptor alpha chain in the developing decidual cells. These observations reveal a previously unrecognized critical role for IL-11 signaling in female reproduction.
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