Purpose: Endometriosis has an incidence reaching up to 50% in infertile women. Cytokine-mediated immune responses seem to play an important role in endometriosis pathogenesis, but still the etiology and pathophysiology remain unclear. In the current study we tried to investigate whether there is a relationship between IL-10 genetic polymorphism, serum levels of IL-10 and the presence of advanced endometriosis.
Methods: The presence of IL-10 592C/A, 819T/C, 1082G/A promoter polymorphisms and IL-10 serum levels were investigated in advanced endometriosis patients compared to healthy controls. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes and further analyzed by PCR.
Results: IL-10 serum levels were higher in endometriosis group compared to controls (1.48, 0.68, p < 0.001). We have observed an association between IL-10 592C/C and 819C/C genotypes, presence of C alleles and an increased risk of endometriosis. No difference was observed in IL-10 serum levels corresponding to different alleles or genotypes.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that IL-10 592A/C and 819T/C promoter polymorphisms confer susceptibility to advanced endometriosis. No associations were found between the IL-10 1082A/G polymorphism and susceptibility to advanced endometriosis.
Keywords: Cytokine; Endometriosis; Genetic polymorphism; Interleukin-10.