Th1 and Th2 immune responses related to pelvic endometriosis

• Autor(a) principal: Podgaec,Sergio
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Dias Junior,João Antonio, Chapron,Charles, Oliveira,Ricardo Manoel de, Baracat,Edmund Chada, Abrão,Maurício Simões
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-42302010000100022
• topic: Endometriosis; Allergy and Immunology; Cytokines; Th1 Cells; Th2 Cells

OBJECTIVE: This study analyzed the relationship between clinical characteristics of endometriosis and Th1/Th2 immune response patterns. METHODS: A prospective study was performed with 65 patients with endometriosis (Group A) and 33 without the disease (Group B). Measurement of IL 2, 4 and 10, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma was carried out in peripheral blood and peritoneal fluid. RESULTS: Serum TNF-alpha was higher in patients with endometriosis who had deep dyspareunia compared to controls (mean 4.5 pg/ml and 2.3 pg/ml, p<0.05). Among these patients (n=32), 65.5% had deep endometriosis. Patients with endometriosis and infertility had higher IL-2 concentrations in peritoneal fluid than controls (mean 5.9 pg/ml and 0.2 pg/ml, p<0.05). Among these patients (n=22), 63.5% (n=14) had deep endometriosis. A higher concentration of IL-10 was also observed in patients with ovarian endometriosis when compared to those without this type of disease, as well as when compared to control group patients (mean 50pg/ml, 18.7pg/ml and 25.7pg/ml, p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that when specific clinical data are associated with a higher production of certain cytokines, there is a Th1 response pattern that may be related to deep infiltrating endometriosis.