Fig. 8: Primary cilia-dependent CCL6 secretion promotes decidualization.

A Cytokine array analysis of the cultured medium from stromal cells treated with DMSO or CBA. B Relative mRNA abundances of Pcsk9, Prl8a2, and Prl3c1 after stromal cells were transfected with siScr or siPcsk9 for 24 h and further induced in vitro decidualization for 24 h. C Relative mRNA abundances of Rbp4, Prl8a2, and Prl3c1 after stromal cells were transfected with siScr or siRbp4 for 24 h and further induced in vitro decidualization for 24 h. D Relative mRNA abundances of Ccl6, Prl8a2, and Prl3c1 after stromal cells were transfected with siScr or siCcl6 for 24 h and further induced in vitro decidualization for 24 h. E Relative mRNA abundances of Prl8a2 and Prl3c1 after stromal cells were treated with recombinant mCCL6 proteins under in vitro decidualization for 24 h. F CCL6 concentrations in cultured medium after stromal cells were treated with DMSO or CBA under in vitro decidualization for 24 h. G CCL6 concentrations after stromal cells were treated DMSO and CalyA under in vitro decidualization for 24 h. H CCL6 concentrations in cultured medium after stromal cells were treated with 2’3’-cGAMP (5 μg/ml) under in vitro decidualization for 24 h. I Schematic model illustrating the working mechanism. TMEM67 is essential for stromal primary cilia formation and mouse decidualization. Primary cilia prevent RhoA-ROCK-MLC2-mediated actomyosin contraction, thereby reducing micronuclei formation and suppressing the cGAS-STING pathway activation. Loss of primary cilia leads to decreased CCL6 secretion and impairs decidualization. All images were representative ones of three biologically independent experiments. All data were presented as means ± SD from three biologically independent experiments. The two-tailed Student’s t-test was used for comparing two groups. One-way ANOVA test was used for comparing more than two groups. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001.