Are uterine natural killer and plasma cells in infertility patients associated with endometriosis, repeated implantation
- PDF / 515,340 Bytes
- 8 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 48 Downloads / 200 Views
GYNECOLOGIC ENDOCRINOLOGY AND REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE
Are uterine natural killer and plasma cells in infertility patients associated with endometriosis, repeated implantation failure, or recurrent pregnancy loss? Nadine Freitag1 · Sarah J. Pour1 · Tanja N. Fehm2 · Bettina Toth3 · Udo R. Markert4 · Maja Weber4 · Riku Togawa5 · Jan‑Steffen Kruessel1 · Dunja M. Baston‑Buest1 · Alexandra P. Bielfeld1 Received: 21 April 2020 / Accepted: 3 July 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Purpose Infertility is a debilitating situation that millions of women around the world suffer from, but the causal relationship between infertility and endometriosis is still unclear. We hypothesize that the immune cell populations of uterine natural killer cells (uNK) and plasma cells (PC) which define chronic endometritis could differ in patients with or without endometriosis and therefore be the link to endometriosis-associated infertility. Methods Our retrospective study includes 173 patients that underwent an endometrial scratching in the secretory phase of the menstrual cycle and subsequently immunohistochemical examination for uNK cells and PC. Sixty-seven patients were diagnosed with endometriosis, 106 served as the control cohort. Results The risk for an elevated number of uNK cells in women with endometriosis is not increased as compared to the control group. Our findings suggest that patients with endometriosis are 1.3 times more likely to have chronic endometritis (CE) as compared to those without and that the treatment with doxycycline might increase pregnancy rates. Endometriosis and an increased number of uNK cells seem to be unrelated. Conclusions In contrast to the lately published connection between endometriosis, infertility and increased uNK cells, we could not find any evidence that patients with endometriosis are more prone to elevated uterine uNK cells. Counting of PC in endometrial biopsies might be a new approach in the search of biomarkers for the nonsurgical diagnosis of endometriosis since our findings suggest a connection. Keywords Chronic endometritis · Endometriosis · Endometrium · Immunotherapy · Soybean oil · Spontaneous abortion
Introduction * Dunja M. Baston‑Buest baston‑[email protected] 1
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and REI (UniKiD), Medical Faculty, Medical Center University of Düsseldorf, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Moorenstr. 5, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
2
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical Center University of Düsseldorf, Moorenstr. 5, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
3
Gynecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
4
Placenta Lab, Department of Obstetrics, Jena University Hospital, Am Klinikum 1, 07740 Jena, Germany
5
Department of Gynecological Endocrinology and Fertility Disorders, Karls-Ruprecht University, Heidelberg, Germany
Involuntary childlessness is a disconsolating situation that around 12–15% of couples in the reproductive phase suffer from [1, 2]. The prevalence of infertility in women with
Data Loading...
