Skip Navigation



Hum. Reprod. Advance Access published online on January 18, 2007
Human Reproduction, doi:10.1093/humrep/del516
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF ) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
22/5/1373    most recent
del516v1
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Podgaec, S.
Right arrow Articles by Baracat, E.C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Podgaec, S.
Right arrow Articles by Baracat, E.C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Endometriosis: an inflammatory disease with a Th2 immune response component

S. Podgaec1,4, M.S. Abrao1, J.A. Dias, Jr1, L.V. Rizzo2, R.M. de Oliveira3 and E.C. Baracat1

1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Teaching Hospital 2 Department of Immunology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil 3 RDO Diagnósticos Médicos, São Paulo, Brazil

4 To whom correspondence should be addressed at: Department of Obsterics and Gynecology, Teaching Hospital, University of São Paulo, Rua João Moura 627, cj.23, Jardim América, São Paulo, SP 05412-911, Brazil. Tel.: 55 11 3081 7003; E-mail: spodgaec{at}uol.com.br

BACKGROUND: Efforts have been made to correctly characterize the role of the immune response in endometriosis. The objective of this study was to analyse the interaction between Th1 and Th2 immune response patterns and endometriosis by evaluating a panel of cytokines.

METHODS: Between January 2004 and November 2005, 98 patients, classified into two groups according to the histologically confirmed presence (Group A) or absence of endometriosis (Group B), were evaluated. Interleukins (IL) 2, 4 and 10, tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) were measured by flow cytometry in the peripheral blood and peritoneal fluid of all patients.

RESULTS: IFN-gamma and IL-10 levels were significantly higher in the peritoneal fluid of patients with endometriosis compared to those without endometriosis (P < 0.05). There was a significant alteration in the IL-4/IFN-gamma (P < 0.001), IL-4/IL-2 (P = 0.006), IL-10/IFN-gamma (P < 0.001) and the IL-10/IL-2 ratios (P < 0.001) in the peritoneal fluid of patients with endometriosis, with a predominance of IL-4 and IL-10, reflecting a shift towards Th2 immune response despite the increase in IFN-gamma concentrations.

CONCLUSIONS: Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease involving a possible shift towards Th2 immune response component, as demonstrated by the relative increase in cytokines characteristic of this pattern of immune response.

Key words: cytokine/endometriosis/interleukin/interferon/tumor necrosis factor


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 DMMHome page
R. A. Budiu, I. Diaconu, R. Chrissluis, A. Dricu, R. P. Edwards, and A. M. Vlad
A conditional mouse model for human MUC1-positive endometriosis shows the presence of anti-MUC1 antibodies and Foxp3+ regulatory T cells
Dis. Model. Mech., November 1, 2009; 2(11-12): 593 - 603.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Pathol.Home page
M. L. Hull, C. R. Escareno, J. M. Godsland, J. R. Doig, C. M. Johnson, S. C. Phillips, S. K. Smith, S. Tavare, C. G. Print, and D. S. Charnock-Jones
Endometrial-Peritoneal Interactions during Endometriotic Lesion Establishment
Am. J. Pathol., September 1, 2008; 173(3): 700 - 715.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Pathol.Home page
Z. OuYang, Y. Hirota, Y. Osuga, K. Hamasaki, A. Hasegawa, T. Tajima, T. Hirata, K. Koga, O. Yoshino, M. Harada, et al.
Interleukin-4 Stimulates Proliferation of Endometriotic Stromal Cells
Am. J. Pathol., August 1, 2008; 173(2): 463 - 469.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 EndocrinologyHome page
T. Hirata, Y. Osuga, K. Hamasaki, O. Yoshino, M. Ito, A. Hasegawa, Y. Takemura, Y. Hirota, E. Nose, C. Morimoto, et al.
Interleukin (IL)-17A Stimulates IL-8 Secretion, Cyclooxygensase-2 Expression, and Cell Proliferation of Endometriotic Stromal Cells
Endocrinology, March 1, 2008; 149(3): 1260 - 1267.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.