Tumor necrosis factor-alpha but not interleukin-1 beta or interleukin-8 concentrations correlate with angiogenic activity of peritoneal fluid from patients with minimal to mild endometriosis

Objective: To assess the angiogenic activity of peritoneal fluid in women with minimal to mild endometriosis and to investigate the relationship between this activity and the concentration of macrophage-derived angiogenic factors and clinical variables, such as phase of menstrual cycle, type of lesion, and revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine classification. Design: On vivo bioassay. Setting: Tertiary-care university medical center. Patient(s): Fifty-two female volunteers with laparoscopic findings indicating minimal to mild endometriosis. Intervention(s): Peritoneal fluid was collected at the start of laparoscopy. A standard amount of peritoneal fluid was applied to a chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane assay. Main Outcome Measure(s): Angiogenic response was assessed by determining the vascular density index. Result(s): 85% of the peritoneal fluid samples induced angiogenesis in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane bioassay. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and total protein were significantly related to the vascular density index, whereas interleukin-1 beta, interleukin-8, and clinical variables appeared to not affect the angiogenic response. Conclusion(s): The results confirms previous findings of peritoneal fluid angiogenic activity in women with minimal to mild endometriosis and indicate involvement of tumor necrosis factor-alpha. (C) 2001 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.