Aim: To observe the effect of warming menstruation and analgesic herbal soup (WMAS) on the pathway of programmed cell death protein 1 and its ligand 1 PD-1/PD-L1 in rats with endometriosis model.
Methods: A total of 90 mature female Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups of 15 rats each. Of these, 5 groups were randomly selected for endometriosis molding and given high (HW group), medium (MW group) and low (LW group) doses of WMAS, western medicine (progesterone capsules, PC group) and saline gavage (SG group) respectively. The other group was a normal group (NM group), which was given saline gavage. The protein expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 on rat in eutopic and ectopic endothelium was detected by immunohistochemistry and the mRNA expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in rats was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Results: The protein and mRNA expression of PD-1 and PD-L in the eutopic and ectopic endometrium of rats in the endometriosis group were higher than in the normal group (P <.05). The protein and mRNA expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 in the eutopic and ectopic endothelium of the HW, MW and PC groups were lower than in the SG group (P <.05).
Conclusion: High expression of PD-1 and PD-L1 occurs in endometriosis, and WMAS can inhibit the immune signalling pathway PD-1/PD-L1, which may be available to inhibit the development of endometriosis.