Expression of interleukin-10 in patients with adenomyosis

Abstract

To investigate the expression of interleukin-10 (IL-10) in adenomyosis. Laboratory study using human tissue. University hospital. Thirty-four patients with adenomyosis and 30 women without adenomyosis who underwent hysterectomy for nonendometrial pathology. Tissue sections were immunostained with murine monoclonal antihuman IL-10 antibodies. Microscopic evaluation to assess the presence and localization of IL-10 throughout the menstrual cycle in both eutopic endometrial and adenomyotic tissues of women with adenomyosis and compare it with IL-10 expression in the normal endometrium. In the eutopic and ectopic endometrium of women with adenomyosis, epithelial cells showed higher staining intensity than the normal controls. However, no significant differences were found in the epithelial IL-10 immunostaining H score values between the eutopic endometrium and adenomyosis foci. Nonetheless, we observed a cyclic variation in the eutopic epithelial IL-10 immunoreactivity throughout the menstrual cycle with higher H score values in the secretory phase than in the proliferative phase. These findings suggest that an abnormality of inflammatory response may be present in the eutopic and ectopic endometrium of women with adenomyosis and that IL-10 may contribute to the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of adenomyosis.