Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 23, 2026
08:07
Establishment of an Experimental Mouse Model of Endometrioma to Study its Related Infertility
Published on: April 5, 2024
PBMC-derived FGF, PDGF, VEGF and GM-CSF secretion in endometriosis: a case-control in vitro study
Marcin Sadlocha1, Aleksandra Krzywon2,3, Jakub Marcin Staniczek1
1Chair and Clinical Department of Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Gynaecologic Oncology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland.
Frontiers in Medicine
|June 22, 2026
Summary
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from women with endometriosis do not exhibit increased secretion of key growth factors. These findings suggest endometriosis-related pro-angiogenic signaling is localized to the peritoneal environment, not systemic.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive immunology
- Cellular biology
- Gynecologic pathology
Background:
- Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition involving immune dysregulation.
- Angiogenic and hematopoietic mediators are implicated in endometriosis lesion development.
- The intrinsic secretory capacity of circulating immune cells in endometriosis is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the in vitro secretion of fibroblast growth factor (FGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).
- To compare PBMC secretory function between women with and without endometriosis.
Main Methods:
- A case-control study involving 36 women with endometriosis and 44 controls.
- PBMCs were isolated and cultured under basal and phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated conditions.
- Growth factor concentrations in culture supernatants were measured using multiplex bead-based immunoassays.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in baseline secretion of FGF, PDGF, VEGF, or GM-CSF were observed between women with and without endometriosis after multiple testing correction.
- PHA stimulation altered secretion profiles but did not reveal significant inter-group differences in stimulated levels or percent changes.
- None of the measured growth factors at baseline significantly predicted endometriosis status.
Conclusions:
- PBMCs from women with endometriosis do not demonstrate a generalized increase in the secretion of the studied pro-angiogenic/hematopoietic growth factors.
- These findings do not support a model of systemic PBMC hypersecretion in endometriosis.
- The results suggest that pro-angiogenic signaling relevant to endometriosis is likely compartmentalized within local peritoneal and lesion microenvironments.
