Role of Cytokines in Endometriosis-Associated Infertility

Tomio Iwabe, Tasuku Harada, Naoki Terakawa
Gynecologic and obstetric investigation · 2002 · vol. 53(Suppl. 1) , pp. 19–25 · doi:10.1159/000049420 · PMID:11834864 · W2054749660
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Elevated peritoneal fluid concentrations of TNF-alpha and IL-6 correlate with red peritoneal endometriosis and may contribute to infertility by impairing embryo development and sperm function.

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Abstract

Endometriosis, which is common in women of reproductive age, may affect fertility. It is also clear that mechanical disruption of the pelvic anatomy may cause infertility. However, our understanding of the association between the early stage of endometriosis and infertility remains incomplete. Bloody peritoneal fluid (PF) is frequently observed in the cul-de-sac of endometriosis patients and contains various biologically active factors. We found that the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in PF from patients with endometriosis were significantly higher than that of patients with endometriosis. There were significantly positive correlations between the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6. We compared the levels of these cytokines with regard to the R-AFS stages and scores, but no differences were observed. In contrast, these cytokines correlate with the number and extent of red color peritoneal endometriosis. TNF-alpha increased the expression of IL-6 messenger RNA and protein in endometriotic stromal cells derived from chocolate cyst in a dose-dependent manner. The addition of IL-6 inhibited the development of mouse preimplantation embryo and impaired sperm function. We concluded that increased levels of IL-6 in peritoneal fluid of patients with active red endometriosis might be related to endometriosis-associated fertility.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Cytokines Endometriosis Endometriosis Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Adult Animals Ascitic Fluid Ascitic Fluid Biomarkers Biomarkers Comorbidity Cytokines Cytokines Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female

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References (7)

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