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Recombinant interleukin-2 corrects in vitro the immunological defect of endometriosis
G Melioli1, C Semino, A Semino
1Servizio di Patologia Clinica, Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genova, Italy.
Problem:
It has been shown recently that women with endometriosis have several immunological defects. In particular, these patients have a defect in peripheral blood natural killer cell activity and have lost their capacity of recognizing and lysing autologous endometrial cells.
Method:
We evaluated the effect of recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) on peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained from both healthy donors and endometriosis patients. The generation of a strong cytolytic activity against autologous endometrial cells was obtained from both normal donors and endometriosis patients.
Results:
Interestingly, these cytolytic cells belong to the T-cell lineage and do not recognize both autologous keratinocytes and allogeneic endometrial cells, thus suggesting a mechanism of specific recognition of autologous cells.
Conclusion:
The capability of restoring cytolytic activity using rIL-2 suggests a new immunotherapeutic approach for the treatment of severe endometriosis.