Decreased natural killer cell activity in endometriosis patients: relationship to disease pathogenesis

A Long-Acting Tumor Necrosis Factor α-Binding Protein Demonstrates Activity in Both In Vitro and In Vivo Models of Endometriosis

“…In addition, we demonstrated that treatments with antide and TNF-SHARC increased NK cell activity similar to the human studies (Umesaki et al, 1999). Clinical data show reduced NK cell activity in women with endometriosis (Tanaka et al, 1992;Quaranta et al, 2006), which correlates with the severity of the disease (Wilson et al, 1994). Recent studies propose the decreased NK cell activity in women with endometriosis could be due to an increased proportion of NK cells expressing CD94/NKG2A (Galandrini et al, 2008).…”

Phenotypic and functional studies of leukocytes in human endometrium and endometriosis

“…Numerous studies have highlighted that several components of the immune system are altered in women with endometriosis. Many studies have focused on the role of natural killer (NK) cells, with the majority showing some degree of NK-cell dysfunction (Oosterlynck et al, 1991(Oosterlynck et al, , 1992Vigano et al, 1991;Tanaka et al, 1992;Garzetti et al, 1993Garzetti et al, , 1995Iwasaki et al, 1993;Wilson et al, 1994;Ho et al, 1995). Others have demonstrated increased numbers of activated macrophages in women with endometriosis (Oosterlynck et al, 1994;Becker et al, 1995).…”

Role of NK Cells in Endometriosis

“…The finding of decreased NK cell activity in women with endometriosis and the positive correlation of NK cell activity in both the PB and PF with the severity of this disease has led to consensus about its pathogenesis [30][31][32][33].…”