Abstract
Objective
To determine the efficacy of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy (etanercept) for treating
endometriosis in the rat endometriosis model.
Study design
A randomized, placebo-controlled, blinded study using rat endometriosis model. After
the peritoneal implantation of endometrial tissue, twenty-eight Wistar female rats
were randomized to two equal intervention groups: the control group and the etanercept-treated
group. After measuring implant volume, pretreatment blood and peritoneal fluid samples
were obtained. A vehicle treatment of 2 mL saline to the rats in control group and 0. 4 mg/kg etanercept SC once weekly were administered in the etanercept-treated group.
After four weeks treatment period, the volumes and histopathological properties of
the implants were evaluated. A scoring system was used to evaluate preservation of
epithelia. Endometrial explants were evaluated immunohistochemically for tumor necrosis
factor receptor type 2 (TNFR2). A scoring system was used to evaluate expression grade
of TNFR2.
Results
There was not a significant difference in spherical volume between control (131.0
(60.3–501.2)) and treatment groups (72.8 (31.2–149.6)) (p > 0.025). There was a significant change in between the volumes of implants before and
after treatment in etanercept group (p < 0.05). At the end of the treatment significant differences among the groups were found
in histopathological and immunohistochemical parameters (p < 0.05) also histologic scores and HSCORES were decreased in the treatment group significantly
(p < 0.05).
Conclusion
These results indicate that etanercept was found to effectively reduce the development
of endometriosis in this experimental rat model.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 27, 2011
Accepted:
June 9,
2011
Received in revised form:
April 3,
2011
Received:
March 8,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
