Secretion of Interleukine-6 by Endometrial and Endometriotic Cells in Vitro

ve: To explore the role of interleukine-6 (IL-6) in the pathogenesis of endometriosis (EM). Methods: Ectopic implant endometrial (EI) and eutopic endometrial (EE) cells from 12 cases of EM along with 10 cases of normal endometrial (NE) cells were cultured, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was performed to determine spontaneous and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) -induced secre-tion of IL-6 in the culture medium. Results: In EI, EE and NE cells, the spontaneous production of IL-6 was significantly different, with EIEE(P0. 01) and EENE(P0. 05). Incubation of EI cells with TNF-α(10 ng/mL) for 24 h resulted in a remarkable increase of IL-6 secretion(P0. 01). Conclusions: Ectopic endometrial cells could secret high concentrations of IL-6 under basal and TNF-α stimulated condi-tions, which is closely connected with peritoneal inflammation of EM patients. Moreover, the characteris-tic of secreting large amounts of IL-6 of eutopic endometrium might contribute to its ectopic implants.