Human Reproduction, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 558-562, 1995
© 1995 European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology
research-article |
Immunology: Anti-endometrial lymphocytotoxicity and natural killer cell activity in baboons (Papio anubis and Papio cynocephalus) with endometriosis*
1Department of Reproduction, Institute of Primate Research P.O. Box 24481, Nairobi, Kenya 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg B-3000 Leuven, Belgium 3Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research Post Office, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria 3050, Australia 4Fearing Research Laboratory 250 Longwood Avenue, Room 204, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Correspondence: 5To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Fearing Research Laboratory, Division of Reproductive Immunology, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 250 Longwood Avenue, SGMB 204, Boston, MA 02115, USA
This study was performed to test the hypothesis that anti-endometrial, lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity and natural killer (NK) activity are reduced in baboons with endometriosis when compared to animals with a normal pelvis. Lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity was determined in 28 baboons (15 with endometriosis, 13 with normal pelvis) and NK cell activity was evaluated in 42 baboons (31 with endometriosis, 11 with normal pelvis). Anti-endometrial lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity was determined by a 20 h assay with effector-target ratios of 50: 1 and 25: 1. The NK activity (K562 cell line as target) was simultaneously measured in all animals during a 4 h assay with effector:target ratios of 200: 1, 100: 1, 50: 1, 25: 1, 12: 1, 6: 1 and 3: 1. Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance, paired rank, Mann—Whitney, Kruskal—Wallis and Fisher exact tests where appropriate. Lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity was significantly lower (P < 0.025) in baboons with endometriosis (mean 5.9 ± 8.7 %, median 0%, range 0–26%) than in animals with a normal pelvis (mean 22.9 ± 23.0 %, median 7%, range 0–78 %). This difference could be explained by the absence of cytotoxicity in baboons with moderate to severe endometriosis, probably due to high spontaneous release of 51Cr from labelled target cells. When stricter criteria were used and only animals with a labelling index (maximal/spontaneous release) of 
1.7 were analysed (n = 11), the anti-endometrial cytotoxicity was comparable between baboons with and without endometriosis. NK cell activity was also comparable in primates with and without endometriosis. In conclusion, no difference in lymphocyte-mediated cytotoxicity and NK cell activity was observed between baboons with and without endometriosis.
Key words: anti-endometrial/baboon (Papio anubis/P.cynocephalus/cytotoxicity/endometriosis/natural killer cell activity
*Presented at Serono Symposium ‘Immunobiology of Reproduction’, Boston, USA, August 26–29, 1993