Elevated expression of tumour necrosis factor alpha in cultured granulosa cells from women with endometriosis

Fertilization and oocyte cleavage rates have previously been demonstrated to be lower for women with endometriosis undergoing IVF compared with controls. This might be related to impaired oocyte function, possibly due to an inflammatory milieu in the pelvis of these women, where an elevated concentration of many cytokines is documented. The aim of this study was to examine whether granulosa cells from women with endometriosis deviated with respect to production of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, interleukin-8 and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) compared with granulosa cells from healthy women, undergoing IVF for male infertility. The effect of human chorionic gonadotrophin on cytokine production was also investigated. Granulosa cells in follicular fluid were obtained at oocyte retrieval for IVF. Incubated cell culture media were analysed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The basal production of all four cytokines was higher in cells from women with endometriosis when compared to controls, although the increase was only significant for TNFalpha. Chorionic gonadotrophin had no significant effect, although it had a tendency to suppress cytokine release in both patient categories. Whether aberrant cytokine production in granulosa cells from women with endometriosis may disturb fertilizing capacity of oocytes requires study.