Natural killer activity in stage III and IV endometriosis: impaired cytotoxicity and retained lymphokine responsiveness of natural killer cells.

Our objective was to investigate the role of estrogens in the development and progression of endometriosis, and evaluate the in vitro boosting effect of lymphokines on the activity of natural killer cells from endometriosis patients, with respect to the estradiol concentrations. Natural killer activity of peripheral blood was evaluated in 42 endometriosis patients who underwent laparoscopy for pelvic pain, infertility and benign adnexal masses, and it was correlated with serum estradiol levels. Twenty-five women with moderate and severe disease were re-evaluated for immune and endocrine parameters 4–8 weeks after surgery, before any specific adjuvant medical treatment, and analyzed for in vitro responsiveness of cytotoxic cells to interferon (IFN) α2β and interleukin-2 (IL-2) incubation.Patients with moderate and severe endometriosis showed a significant decrease of natural cytotoxicity when compared with patients with mild and minimal disease (p = 0.01). The decrease of immune reactivity was independent ...