Meta-analysis of Interleukin-6 Concentration in Peritoneal Fluid of Women with Endometriosis

To investigate whether the Interleukin-6 (IL-6) concentration in peritoneal fluid of patients with endometriosis (EM) is higher than that of healthy, synthetic quantitative analysis was used to study international literatures on IL-6 in peritoneal fluid of women with EM by means of Meta-analysis. The results showed that IL-6 levels of ELISA in the women with EM were -0.472-3.974 times of standard deviation higher than those in the healthy control group. Regardless of measurement methods, -0.73-3.45 times of standard deviation was higher. Both results could not generally think that the IL-6 in peritoneal fluid of EM patient was higher than that of normal persons. However, when EM was diagnosed at the time of laparoscopy or surgery and staged according to AFS, Ⅰ-Ⅱ stage were attributed to EM1, Ⅲ-Ⅳ stage were EM2.It was found by Meta-analysis that the elevated IL-6 levels had a mutual relation with the severity of EM: The levels of EM1 were-4.807-5.608 times of standard deviation higher than those of then healthy, with no significant difference ( P 0.05), whereas those of EM2 were 0.54-5.34 times or 1.13 -5.46 times of standard deviation higher than those of EM1 or healthy, respectively, both with significant difference. The higher the IL-6 levels of the patients had in peritoneal fluid, the more serious EM were. The dysregulation of IL-6 responses might play a role in the pathophysiology of EM.