A Study of Peritoneal Immunocompetent Cells in External Genital Endometriosis

The aim of the present investigation was to study the peculiarities of peritoneal lymphoid cell activation at the local level during external endometriosis and the possible role of secretory products of peritoneal macrophages in this process. Immunocompetent cells of peritoneal fluid from 16 women with endometriosis and 14 healthy women were studied by two-color flow cytometry method. It was found that endometriosis was associated with high level of expression of CD25 and HLA DR molecules and diminishment of Fas expression by CD3(+) subset of peritoneal lymphocytes. Experimentally it was established that supernatant of 24-h culture of peritoneal macrophages from women with endometriosis induced the expression of CD25 marker by CD4(+) but not CD8(+) cells and decreased Fas expression by both cell subsets in donor lymphocytes. It can be supposed that altered secretory function of peritoneal macrophages in situ impair the apoptosis of activated clones of T lymphocytes. Observed effect of macrophage secretory products was not associated with TNF-alpha production by peritoneal macrophages in the process of their cultivation.