Open Access

ARTICLE

Expression of IL-10 in human normal and cancerous ovarian tissues and cells

Alex Rabinovich^1,3,*, Liat Medina^2,3,*, Benjamin Piura^1,3, Mahmoud Huleihel^2,3

1 Unit of Gynecologic Oncology, Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel
2 The Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology and Immunology
3 Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel

* Corresponding Author: M. Huleihel,

European Cytokine Network 2010, 21(2), 122-128. https://doi.org/10.1684/ecn.2010.0188

Accepted 15 February 2010;

Abstract

IL-10 is an 18-kd polypeptide that has been shown to be secreted by multiple cell types, includingT and B cells, monocytes and some human tumors. However, which cell population is responsible for theelevated IL-10 levels in the serum and ascites of ovarian cancer patients, whether ovarian carcinoma cellsproduce IL-10, and how IL-10 influences the development and progression of ovarian carcinoma are issuesthat remain unclear. The aim of our study was to examine IL-10 production and secretion by ovarian carci-noma tissues and cells, and to determine its possible role in the cell and tumor micro-environment. The meanIL-10 protein levels expressed in normal ovarian tissue homogenates were significantly higher compared tocancerous ovarian tissue (p = 0.002). Yet, the IL-10 mRNA expression was significantly higher in cancerousovarian tissues as compared to normal tissues (p = 0.021). The IL-10 receptor mRNA expression levels of thecancerous ovarian tissue homogenates were slightly, but not significantly, higher than the normal tissues. IL-10immunostaining revealed that in both normal and cancerous ovarian tissues, IL-10 expression could be detectedmainly in epithelial cells. In normal ovarian tissues, similar levels of IL-10R were demonstrated in epithelialand stromal cells. However, in cancerous ovarian tissues, epithelial cells expressed higher levels of IL-10R thanthe stroma. Primary normal and cancerous ovarian cell cultures and SKOV-3 cells secreted similar amounts ofIL-10 after 24 hours of incubation. Our results suggest that epithelial cells are the main source of IL-10 in theovary. Nevertheless, the target cells for IL-10 are different in normal and cancerous ovarian cells. Thus, IL-10and its receptor could be involved in the pathogenesis of ovarian carcinoma.

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