A case-control laboratory study.
Tertiary-care university hospital.
Two hundred nineteen women, with (n?=?112) and without (n?=?107) endometriosis.
Complete surgical excision with pathological analysis.
Blood samples were obtained during surgical procedures. IL-10, -19, -20, and -22 were assayed by ELISA in sera, and the concentrations correlated with the extent and the severity of the disease.
IL-19 was detectable in 18.3 % and IL-22 in 47.9 % of sera samples from all 219 women studied. Serum IL-19 was lower in women with endometriosis (median, 292.7 pg/mL; range, 32.2-1,339.3) than in endometriosis-free women (median, 1,035.8 pg/mL; range, 32.2-2,000.0). In addition, serum IL-22 levels were decreased in women affected by endometriosis (median, 352.0 pg/mL; range, 31.2-1,392.2) as compared with endometriosis-free women (median, 709.2 pg/mL; range, 73.3-2,012.0). We found significant correlations between serum IL-22 concentrations and intensity of deep dyspareunia (r?=??0.303) and noncyclic chronic pelvic pain (r?=??0.212). IL-19 was correlated with the intensity of deep dyspareunia (r?=??0.749).
Serum IL-19 and IL-22 are decreased in women with ovarian endometrioma. IL-10 family ILs may be involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.