The immune cells that reside at the interface between the placenta and uterus are thought to
play many important roles in pregnancy. Recent work has revealed that the composition and
function of these cells are locally controlled by the specialized uterine stroma (the decidua)
that surrounds the implanted conceptus. Here, I discuss how key immune cell types (natural
killer cells, macrophages, dendritic cells, and T cells) are either enriched or excluded from
the decidua, how their function is regulated within the decidua, and how they variously …