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The expression and significance of leukemia inhibitory factor, interleukin-6 and vascular endothelial growth factor in Chinese patients with endometriosis

  • General Gynecology
  • Published:
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

To observe the levels of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in blood, peritoneal fluid, ectopic endometrial tissue, and ectopic endometrial stromal cells of patients with endometriosis, and to compare expression of IL-6, LIF and VEGF expression between endometriotic and non-endometriotic patients underwent laparoscopic surgery.

Methods

Thirty-one patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery for endometriosis in our hospital from January 2018 to January 2020 were included in the observation group, and 32 patients who underwent laparoscopic surgery for uterine fibroids, ovarian serous cystadenoma, and ovarian teratomas, were included in the control group. The levels of LIF, IL-6 and VEGF in the blood and peritoneal fluid of the two groups of patients were detected. The levels of LIF, IL-6 and VEGF in ectopic endometrial tissue and self-paired eutopic endometrial tissue, ectopic endometrial stromal cells and self-paired eutopic endometrial stromal cells of patients in the observation group were detected. After treating the primary cultured ectopic endometrial stromal cells with LIF and IL-6 alone or in combination, the changes of VEGF mRNA of ectopic endometrial stromal cells and the VEGF levels in the supernatant were observed.

Results

The levels of LIF, IL-6 and VEGF in the blood and peritoneal fluid of the observation group were all higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05), and the levels of LIF, IL-6 and VEGF in the peritoneal fluid of the observation group were significantly higher than those in the blood (P < 0.05). In the observation group, the expression levels of LIF-mRNA and IL-6 mRNA in the ectopic endometrial tissue were higher than those in the self-paired eutopic endometrial tissues (P < 0.05), while the expression level of VEGF mRNA in the ectopic endometrial tissues was lower than that in the self-paired eutopic endometrial tissues (P < 0.05). Besides, the mRNA expression levels of LIF, IL-6 and VEGF in ectopic endometrial stromal cells of the observation group were all higher than those in the self-paired eutopic endometrial stromal cells (P < 0.05). After stimulating ectopic endometrial stromal cells with LIF, IL-6 and LIF + IL-6, respectively, the VEGF levels in the supernatant were all significantly higher than that in the blank control group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

The LIF, IL-6 and VEGF levels in blood and peritoneal fluid were increased in patients with endometriosis, and increased LIF and IL-6 in ectopic endometriosis stromal cells can play a synergistic role in increasing the VEGF levels, which may be involved in the occurrence and development of endometriosis.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

No funding was received for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gynaecology, Linyi Central Hospital, No.17 Jiankang Road, Yishui County, Linyi City, 276400, Shandong, China

    Cui Li, Yu-Juan Li, Yu-Ying Zhang, Hong-Yun Liu, Fu-Zhong Feng & Hua Yan

  2. Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi, China

    Hong-Lian Zhao

Authors
  1. Cui Li
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  2. Hong-Lian Zhao
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  3. Yu-Juan Li
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  4. Yu-Ying Zhang
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  5. Hong-Yun Liu
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  6. Fu-Zhong Feng
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  7. Hua Yan
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Contributions

CL and HY contributed to the conception and design of the study; HLZ, YJL, YYZ and HYL performed the experiments. CL and FZF collected and analyzed data; CL and HY wrote the manuscript; all authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hua Yan.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Linyi Central Hospital (No.LY19-208). Written informed consent was obtained from all the study subjects before enrollment.

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Li, C., Zhao, HL., Li, YJ. et al. The expression and significance of leukemia inhibitory factor, interleukin-6 and vascular endothelial growth factor in Chinese patients with endometriosis. Arch Gynecol Obstet 304, 163–170 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-021-05980-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-021-05980-5

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