Peritoneal and serum interleukin-18 levels are not increased in women with minimum or mild endometriosis.
Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a cytokine that belongs to the IL-1 family. Endometriosis is strongly associated with sub-fertility, and affects about 15% of women of reproductive age. IL-18 may favor the progression of endometriosis. The objective of the present study was to determine the concentration of IL-18 in the serum and peritoneal fluid of infertile women with endometriosis. Forty infertile and 25 fertile women were screened in a teaching hospital. Thirty-four infertile patients with minimal or mild endometriosis and 22 fertile controls were enrolled in the study. The primary outcome was the estimate of IL-18 levels and the secondary outcome was the correlation between serum and peritoneal levels of IL-18. There were no differences between the two groups regarding age, body mass index and levels of peritoneal fluid IL-18 (mean +/- SD): 290.85 +/- 173.02 pg/mL for infertile women vs 374.21 +/- 330.15 pg/mL for controls; or serum IL-18: 391.07 +/- 119.71 pg/mL for infertile women vs 373.42 +/- 129.11 pg/mL for controls. However, a positive association was found between serum and peritoneal IL-18 levels in patients with endometriosis: r = 0.794, P = 0.0001. All measurements were carried out at the same time by the Human IL-18 Immuno Assay ELISA kit (MBL Co. Ltd., Japan). The present study did not find evidence supporting the hypothesis that IL-18 levels are associated with infertility in women with minimal and mild endometriosis, although a positive correlation was detected in these women between peritoneal and serum levels of IL-18.
Departamento de Obstetrícia e Ginecologia, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
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C
Glitz
C A
CA
Souza
G P
GP
Rodini
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V
Genro
J P
JP
Bilibio
M
M
Senger
J S
JS
Cunha-Filho
D000328:Adult; D001202:Ascitic Fluid / Q000737:chemistry*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004715:Endometriosis / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D020382:Interleukin-18 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D020382:Interleukin-18