Effect of TNF-α on cultured eutopic endometrial stroma cells from endometriosis

Objective To explore the effect of tumor necrosis factor alpha(TNF-α) on cultured eutopic endometrial stroma cells from endometriosis(EMs) patients.Methods Eutopic endometrial cells from 10 patients with endometriosis and normal endometrial cells from 10 women without endometriosis were cultured,purified and identified.Collected stromal cells were treated with different concentrations of TNF-α.The effect was observed by MTT method.Interleukin-8(IL-8) in culture supernatant was detected by enzyme-linked immunoassay.Results TNF-α could remarkably enhance the proliferation of stromal cells from EMs in the concentration of 100ng/ml,but was failed to effect the stromal cells from the controls.IL-8 can be detected in supernatant of stromal cells in women with or without EMs,and IL-8 level was found to be increased constantly as the stimulating concentration of TNF-α in a dose and time-dependent manner in woman with EMs.Conclusion TNF-α promotes the proliferation of EMs stromal cells through inducing IL-8 expression.TNF-α action mediated by IL-8 may contribute to the pathogenesis of endometriosis.