The Immune Base of Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a chronic disabling inflammatory disease which effects 15-20% of women in their reproductive life. In patients suffering from endometriosis retrograded menstrual cells induce an inflammatory response.Endometriosis has also been considered to be an autoimmune disease, owing to the presence of auto antibodies, the association with other autoimmune diseases and recurrent immune-mediated abortion. We aim to study this aberrant regulation of endometrial cell apoptosis by investigating the peripheral blood immune system of patients suffering from endometriosis. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that immune peripheral mononuclear cells of patients suffering from pelvic endometriosis react differently to eutopic endometrial cells than matched control women group. This difference could be study on a molecular, antigenic and/or apoptotic cycle gene expression. We also hypothesized that a deficiency of regulatory T cells is associated with the progression of endometriosis.