Recombinant Interleukin‐2 Corrects In Vitro the Immunological Defect of Endometriosis

PROBLEM: It has been shown recently that women with endometriosis have several immunological defects. In particular, these patients have a defect in peripheral blood natural killer cell activity and have lost their capacity of recognizing and lysing autologous endometrial cells. METHOD: We evaluated the effect of recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2) on peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained from both healthy donors and endometriosis patients. The generation of a strong cytolytic activity against autologous endometrial cells was obtained from both normal donors and endometriosis patients. RESULTS: Interestingly, these cytolytic cells belong to the T-cell lineage and do not recognize both autologous keratinocytes and allogeneic endometrial cells, thus suggesting a mechanism of specific recognition of autologous cells. CONCLUSION: The capability of restoring cytolytic activity using rIL-2 suggests a new immunotherapeutic approach for the treatment of severe endometriosis.