[Interleukin-6 production in endometriosis].

The purpose of this study was to assess whether endometriotic implants of endometriosis could produce Interleukin (IL)-6. IL-6 was measured by means of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 21 patients with endometriosis of stage IV according to R-AFS classification of endometriosis. The tissues obtained from endometriotic implants were incubated for 24 hours and all their supernatants (n = 8) were positive for IL-6 and the mean level of IL-6 was approximately 30pg/ml per 1mg tissue dry weight. The level of IL-6 in the supernatant did not correlate with the serum estradiol level or with positivity against autoimmune antibodies in patients with endometriosis before surgery. The cultured stromal cells obtained from endometriotic implants were immunohistochemically positive for rabbit antihuman IL-6 polyclonal antibodies. IL-1 alpha (0.5ng/ml) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (10 micrograms/ml) caused a 50% and a 130% increase respectively, in IL-6 production in untreated cells (p < 0.01) of 24-hour culture (n = 3). On the other hand, estradiol, progesterone and danazol apparently had no effect on IL-6 production. The serum IL-6 levels of patients with myoma uteri (n = 10) were significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced after surgery, while those of patients with endometriosis (n = 14) declined after surgery. The anti IL-6 antibodies between 10ng/ml and 100ng/ml inhibited cell growth 20% (p < 0.05), while IL-1 alpha (0.5ng/ml) inhibited cell growth 50% (p < 0.01) in a 5 day cell culture (n = 6).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)