Human decidua: a source of cachectin-tumor necrosis factor

Cachectin-tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) has been implicated as a possible signal for the initiation of human parturition in the setting of infection. These studies were conducted to determine whether human decidua can produce TNF-α in response to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Decidual explants from women undergoing elective cesarean sections were incubated with and without Escherichia coli LPS (25 ng/ml) for 20 h. TNF-α concentration in the conditioned media was measured with an enzyme-linked immunoassay and bioassay (L929 bioassay). While conditioned media from unstimulated decidual explants contained either undetectable or low levels of TNF-α, conditioned media from LPS stimulated decidua contained TNF-α (mean = 2.6 pmol/mg protein per 20 hours, SEM ± 1.03). There was a strong correlation between the immunoreactive and bioactive TNF-α (Spearman rank correlation r = 0.76, P < 0.001). We conclude that human decidua in vitro can produce TNF-α in response to LPS.