Endometriotic Tissues Produce Immunosuppressive Factors

J Hirata, Junko Hirata, Yoshihiro Kikuchi, Y Kikuchi, E Imaizumi, Eije Imaizumi, Takehiko Tode, T Tode, Ichiro Nagata, I Nagata
Gynecologic and obstetric investigation · 2010 · vol. 37(1) , pp. 43–47 · doi:10.1159/000292519 · PMID:8125408 · W1964286198
article OA: closed CC0 ⤵ 30 in-corpus citations
View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Supernatants from endometriotic tissue cultures suppressed natural killer cell activity, suggesting these tissues produce immunosuppressive factors involved in endometriosis pathogenesis.

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

Abstract

In order to study the possible role of the immune functions in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, effects of supernatants from endometrial and endometriotic tissue cultures on the natural killer (NK) activity were examined by determining the lymphocyte cytotoxicity toward an erythroleukemic cell line (K562). Endometrial and endometriotic tissues were obtained at the time of operation from patients with ectopic endometriosis or uterine myoma. The normal peritoneum and myoma tissues were used as controls. The supernatants obtained by culturing the ectopic endometriotic tissues for 24-48 h had significant (p < 0.01) suppressive effects on NK activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from a healthy woman, compared to the supernatants from the normal peritoneum and the myoma tissues. There was no significant difference between NK activities of PBL from patients with ectopic endometriosis and age-matched healthy women. However, the NK activity in patients with low NK status before surgery was significantly elevated after surgery while that in patients with normal NK status before surgery was not changed. Although PBL from the same healthy women could significantly lyse the endometrial cells, the ability was about-one-third the level at which they could lyse K562 cells. These results suggest that the immunosuppressive factors secreted by endometriotic tissues may be involved in the local implantation and development of ectopic endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Killer Cells, Natural Leukocytes, Mononuclear Tissue Extracts Adult Culture Techniques Endometriosis Female Humans Immunosuppression Therapy Killer Cells, Natural Killer Cells, Natural Leukocytes, Mononuclear Leukocytes, Mononuclear Middle Aged Tissue Extracts

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.

Cited by (30)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-11T06:19:48.454388+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:11:29.222973+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK