Expression of inflammatory cytokines in serum and peritoneal fluid from patients with different stages of endometriosis

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the level of inflammatory cytokines in endometriosis patients, and explore the relationship between IL-37 concentration and endometriosis stages.

Methods: Inflammatory cytokine concentrations from 27 patients with different stages of endometriosis and 52 controls without endometriosis were examined by ELISA. Then, the specificity and sensitivity of cytokines for distinguishing from controls and the different stages of endometriosis were analyzed using the ROC curve.

Results: The difference in serum concentrations of IL-37, IL-17A, IL-10, and IL-2 between the endometriosis and control groups was statistically significant (p < .01). Compared with controls, significantly higher levels of serum IL-37 and IL-10, and significantly lower levels of serum IL-17A and IL-2 were detected in patients with endometriosis (p < .01). Furthermore, IL-2 concentration was significantly higher in peritoneal fluid (PF) in the endometriosis group (p = .0034), IL-10 concentrations in PF were significantly lower in the early-stages of endometriosis than in the more advanced groups (p = .0439), and IL-4 concentration in PF was significantly higher in more advanced endometriosis (p = .0228). The sensitivity and specificity of serum IL-37 for distinguishing endometriosis were 81.48% and 83.33%, respectively, and the cutoff concentration was 69.84 pg/ml. For IL-17A, the sensitivity and specificity were 96.30% and 100%, respectively, and the cutoff concentration was 57.54 pg/ml. For IL-10, the sensitivity and specificity was 92.59% and 100%, respectively, and the cutoff concentration was 3.301 pg/ml. For IL-2, the sensitivity and specificity were 74.07% and 93.75%, respectively, and the cutoff concentration was 1.813 pg/ml. For PF IL-2, the sensitivity and specificity were 29.73% and 100%, respectively, and the cutoff concentration was 1.06 pg/ml.

Conclusions: IL-37, IL-17A, IL-10, and IL-2 may play a significant role in immune response in endometriosis. IL-37 levels may be used as a diagnostic marker for endometriosis.

Chinese abstract

目的：探讨子宫内膜异位症患者炎性细胞因子水平, 探讨IL-37浓度与子宫内膜异位症分期的关系。

方法：通过ELISA检测27例不同分期的子宫内膜异位症患者和52例无子宫内膜异位症患者的炎性细胞因子浓度。然后, 使用ROC曲线分析细胞因子用于区分对照和不同分期的子宫内膜异位症的特异性和敏感性。

结果：子宫内膜异位症组和对照组之间IL-37, IL-17A, IL-10和IL-2的血清浓度差异有统计学意义（p <0.01）。与对照组相比, 子宫内膜异位症患者血清IL-37和IL-10水平显著升高, 血清IL-17A和IL-2水平显著降低（p <0.01）。此外, 子宫内膜异位组腹腔液（PF）中IL-2浓度显著高于对照组（p = 0.0034）, 早期子宫内膜异位症腹腔液（PF）中IL-10浓度显着低于更高期别组（p = 0.0439）, 更高期别的子宫内膜异位症患者PF中IL-4浓度显着升高（p = 0.0228）。血清IL-37对鉴别子宫内膜异位症的敏感性和特异性分别为81.48％和83.33％, 截断浓度为69.84 pg/ml。对于IL-17A, 灵敏度和特异性分别为96.30％和100％, 截止浓度为57.54 pg/ml。对于IL-10, 灵敏度和特异性分别为92.59％和100％, 截止浓度为3.301pg/ml。对于IL-2, 其灵敏度和特异性分别为74.07％和93.75％, 截止浓度为1.813pg/ml。对于PF IL-2, 灵敏度和特异性分别为29.73％和100％, 截止浓度为1.06 pg/ml。

结论：IL-37, IL-17A, IL-10和IL-2可能在子宫内膜异位症的免疫应答中起重要作用。 IL-37水平可以用作子宫内膜异位症的诊断标志物。

Keywords:

• Endometriosis
• IL-37
• immunology
• pathogenesis
• cytokines

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.