TY  - EJOU
AU  - Rabinovich, Alex 
AU  - Medina, Liat 
AU  - Piura, Benjamin 
AU  - Huleihel, Mahmoud 

TI  - Expression of IL-10 in human normal and cancerous ovarian tissues and cells
T2  - European Cytokine Network

PY  - 2010
VL  - 21
IS  - 2
SN  - 1952-4005

AB  - 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.
KW  - IL-10
KW  -  IL-10 receptor
KW  -  IL-10 mRNA
KW  -  SKOV-3
KW  -  ovarian carcinoma
KW  -  primary cell line

DO  - 10.1684/ecn.2010.0188