Inflammatory cytokine profile of co‑cultivated primary cells from the endometrium of women with and without endometriosis

Nogueira, Adriana, Adriana Luckow Invitti, Eduardo Schor, Rafael Martins Parreira, Alexander Kopelman, Gil Kamergorodsky, Giovana Aparecida Gonçalves, Giovana Gon�alves, Manoel Batista Castello Gir�o, Manoel João Batista Castello Girão
Molecular medicine reports · 2018 · vol. 18(2) , pp. 1287–1296 · doi:10.3892/mmr.2018.9137 · PMID:29901132 · PMC6072141 · W2805762238
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 27 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Endometriotic cells, compared to healthy endometrial cells, significantly increased secretion of IL-6 and IL-8, suggesting a role in the inflammatory environment of endometriosis.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

The paper studied inflammatory cytokine secretion and related phenotypic changes in cultures of primary human endometrial cells from women with and without endometriosis, including single cultures and 1:1 co-cultures of “healthy” and “endometriotic” primary cells. Using cytokine profiling of culture supernatants collected over days 1, 3, 7, and 10, the authors found that IL-6 and IL-8 expression was significantly increased in endometriotic and co-cultured cells versus healthy cells, with IL-6 strongly correlated with IL-8 in endometriotic cells, and IL-1β increased on day 10 of co-culture; they also reported that co-cultured cells showed a different cell population with MUC18/CD146 expression, consistent with a putative endometrial mesenchymal stem cell role. A major limitation is the small sample size (n=3 per group) from stage IV endometriosis patients and the in vitro co-culture design, with limited mechanistic specificity beyond cytokine correlations and marker expression. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it investigates how primary endometriotic cells alter cytokine secretion (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β) and cell populations during co-culture with healthy endometrial cells.

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Abstract

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological disorder defined as the presence of endometrial tissue within extra-uterine sites. The primary symptoms are infertility and chronic pain. The inflammatory environment and aberrant immune responses in women with endometriosis may be directly associated with the initiation and progression of endometriotic lesions. In the present study, the secretion of inflammatory cytokines was evaluated in cultures of primary endometrial cells (ECs) isolated from the endometrium of women with and without endometriosis. The presence of endometriotic cells leads to alterations in the secretory profile of healthy ECs. The expression of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)‑6 and IL‑8 was significantly increased in endometriotic and co‑cultured cells compared with healthy ECs. IL‑6 expression was strongly correlated with IL‑8 expression in endometriotic cells. IL‑1β expression was increased on day 10 of co‑culture to 48.30 pg/ml and may be associated with the long‑term co‑culture, rather than IL‑6 and IL‑8 expression. IL‑6 expression was strongly correlated with cell number, whereas IL‑8 expression was moderately correlated with cell number. Additionally, it was observed that co‑cultured cells exhibited a different population of cells, with expression of the mesenchymal stem cell marker cell surface glycoprotein MUC18, indicating a putative role of endometrial mesenchymal stem cells in the secretion of cytokines and disease development. These results indicate a predominant role of primary endometriotic cells in the secretion of cytokines, which contributes to the disrupted peritoneal and endometrial environment observed in the women with endometriosis.

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Condition tags

endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Gene Expression Regulation Interleukin-6 Interleukin-8 Adolescent Adult CD146 Antigen Coculture Techniques Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Gene Expression Profiling Humans Inflammation Inflammation Inflammation Interleukin-6 Interleukin-8 Middle Aged

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