Different concentrations of interleukins in the peritoneal fluid of women with endometriosis: relationships with lymphocyte subsets

A Gallinelli, G Chiossi, Giuseppe Chiossi, Luca Giannella, L Giannella, T Marsella, Tiziana Marsella, Alessandro D. Genazzani, A D Genazzani, Alessandro Volpe, A Volpe
Gynecological endocrinology : the official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology · 2004 · vol. 18(3) , pp. 144–151 · doi:10.1080/09513590310001653044 · PMID:15255283 · W2085030031
article OA: green CC0 ⤵ 41 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

This study found that women with endometriosis had higher peritoneal fluid IL-12, lower IL-13, and a higher CD8+/CD4+ ratio compared to controls, with correlations observed between interleukins and T cell subsets.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

The present study explored the possible relationships between immune cell subsets and interleukin (IL)-12 or IL-13 levels in the peritoneal fluid of patients with and without endometriosis. Peritoneal fluid samples were obtained from 80 women while they were undergoing laparoscopy for pain, infertility, tubal ligation or re-anastomosis. The American Fertility Society scoring system was used to determine the extension of endometriosis. The peritoneal fluid mononuclear cells were analyzed for immunophenotyping using cytometry, whereas peritoneal fluid concentrations of interleukins were measured using two ultrasensitive commercially available enzyme-linked imnunosorbent assay kits. Significantly higher peritoneal fluid IL-12 levels were found in women with moderate or severe endometriosis (stages III and IV) than in healthy controls (p < 0.01). Conversely, subjects with endometriosis showed remarkably lower peritoneal fluid IL-13 concentrations than controls, independent of the severity of the disease (p < 0.05). Considering immune system effectors, patients with endometriosis presented a significantly higher peritoneal fluid CD8+/CD4+ ratio when compared with healthy controls. Moreover, the number of peritoneal fluid CD8+ and CD4+ activated T cells was significantly lower in the former than in the latter group, independent of the endometriosis stage. Connections were observed between peritoneal fluid interleukins and peritoneal fluid T cells: both patients with endometriosis and controls presented an inverse correlation between peritoneal fluid activated T cells and IL-13 levels, and a direct correlation between peritoneal fluid T cells and IL-12 concentrations. These data seem to suggest that a reciprocal modulation exists between peritoneal fluid cytokines and T lymphocyte subsets in patients with endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Ascitic Fluid Ascitic Fluid Endometriosis Interleukins Lymphocyte Subsets Adult Ascitic Fluid CD3 Complex CD3 Complex CD4-CD8 Ratio Endometriosis Endometriosis Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Female Flow Cytometry HLA-DR Antigens HLA-DR Antigens Humans Immunophenotyping Interleukin-12

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (43)

Cited by (41)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:12:32.173627+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK