Table 1. Immune cells of the female reproductive tract.

Summary of the function and distribution of cells in the upper female reproductive tract (Fallopian tubes, uterine and endocervical mucosa) and the lower female reproductive tract (ectocervical and vaginal mucosa). Distribution of cells (upper vs lower) is expressed relative to each other.

Cell	Role	Function	Upper	Lower
Epithelial Cells	Innate	Physical Barrier Mucin production Broad spectrum antimicrobials (uterine) pIgR mediated IgA transport (uterine)	Single Cuboidal	Stratified Squamous
Neutrophils	Innate	Phagocytosis Antimicrobial α defensins	High	Low
Dendritic/Lange rhans	Innate	Antigen presentation	High	Low
Macrophages	Innate	Phagocytosis (includes antibody bound pathogens) Antigen presentation	High	low
Natural Killer	Innate	Apoptosis of infected cell	Low	High
CD4+ T cells	Adaptive	TH-1 Cell Mediated Responses IFN secretion – antiviral activity	High	Low
CD8+ cells	Adaptive	TH-1 Cell Mediated Responses Apoptosis of infected cells	High	Low
B Cells	Adaptive	TH2 Humoral responses Maturation into IgA/IgG secreting plasma cells	lgG<?>lgA	lgG>lgA

^*For adaptive responses, cell distribution is dependant on inflammation site in FRT