IL-37 affects the occurrence and development of endometriosis by regulating the biological behavior of endometrial stromal cells through multiple signaling pathways

Jianfa Jiang, Kenan Yu, Zhaoying Jiang, Min Xue
Biological chemistry · 2018 · vol. 399(11) , pp. 1325–1337 · doi:10.1515/hsz-2018-0254 · PMID:29924731 · W2809645622
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Interleukin-37 suppresses endometrial stromal cell proliferation, adhesion, migration, and invasion via inactivation of Wnt/β-catenin and MAPK pathways, reducing endometriotic lesion development in mice.

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Abstract

Abstract Endometriosis (EMs) is a chronic inflammatory condition. Interleukin (IL)-37 is a member of the IL-1 family and an anti-inflammatory cytokine. This study aimed to evaluate the possible role of IL-37 in the EMs pathogenesis. We investigated the in vivo effect of IL-37 on EMs by injection with recombinant human IL-37 (rhIL-37) into EMs mice. Furthermore, we evaluated the in vitro effects of IL-37 on proliferation, adhesion, migration and invasiveness of endometrial stromal cells (ESCs), and explored whether Wnt/β-catenin and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways were involved in this process. In cultured ESCs, IL-37 overexpression significantly suppressed both protein and mRNA expression of the inflammation-associated cytokines, including IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α). Furthermore, IL-37 overexpression significantly inhibited ESCs proliferation, adhesion, migration, invasion and the activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9. In contrast, knockdown of IL-37 exerted the opposite effects. Importantly, the IL-37-mediated action in ESCs was through inactivation of Wnt/β-catenin, p38 MAPK, extracellular signal-related kinases MAPK and c-Jun N-terminal kinase MAPK pathways. Moreover, EMs mice treated with rhIL-37 showed the decreased endometriotic-like lesion size and lesion weight, lower expression of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-I (ICAM-I) and MMP-2/9 activity in peritoneal fluid compared with the wide type (WT) EMs mice. These findings suggest that IL-37 suppresses cell proliferation, adhesion, migration and invasion of human ESCs through multiple signaling pathways, thereby affecting the occurrence and development of EMs.

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Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometrium Interleukin-1 Signal Transduction Stromal Cells Adolescent Adult Animals Cell Adhesion Cell Proliferation Cell Survival Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Female Humans Interleukin-1 Interleukin-1 Mice Mice, Inbred C57BL

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