Alpha-Lipoic Acid Plays a Role in Endometriosis: New Evidence on Inflammasome-Mediated Interleukin Production, Cellular Adhesion and Invasion

Fiorella Di Nicuolo, Roberta Castellani, Alessandra De Cicco Nardone, Alessandra Nardone, Greta Barbaro, Carmela Paciullo, Alfredo Pontecorvi, Giovanni Scambia, Nicoletta Di Simone
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021 · vol. 26(2) , pp. 288 · doi:10.3390/molecules26020288 · PMID:33430114 · W3120863323
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 9 in-corpus citations
🔓 Open OA copy View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Alpha-lipoic acid reduces ER-β, NALP-3, IL-1β, IL-18, cellular adhesion, invasion, and MMP activity in endometriotic cells, indicating a potential role in inhibiting endometriosis progression.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Endometriosis is an estrogen-linked gynecological disease defined by the presence of endometrial tissue on extrauterine sites where it forms invasive lesions. Alterations in estrogen-mediated cellular signaling seems to have an essential role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Higher estrogen receptor (ER)-β levels and enhanced ER-β activity were detected in endometriotic tissues. It is well known that ER-β interacts with components of the cytoplasmic inflammasome-3 (NALP-3), the NALP-3 activation increases interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18, enhancing cellular adhesion and proliferation. Otherwise, the inhibition of ER-β activity suppresses the ectopic lesions growth. The present study aims to investigate the potential effect of α-lipoic acid (ALA) on NALP-3 and ER-β expression using a western blot analysis, NALP-3-induced cytokines production by ELISA, migration and invasion of immortalized epithelial (12Z) and stromal endometriotic cells (22B) using a 3D culture invasion assay, and matrix-metalloprotease (MMPs) activity using gelatin zymography. ALA significantly reduces ER-β, NALP-3 protein expression/activity and the secretion of IL-1β and IL-18 in both 12Z and 22B cells. ALA treatment reduces cellular adhesion and invasion via a lower expression of adhesion molecules and MMPs activities. These results provide convincing evidence that ALA might inhibit endometriosis progression.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometrium Signal Transduction Thioctic Acid Cell Adhesion Cell Adhesion Cell Line Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Estrogen Receptor beta Estrogen Receptor beta Female Humans Interleukin-18 Interleukin-18 Interleukin-1beta Interleukin-1beta

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (40)

Cited by (9)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:30:01.192114+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-04T00:00:01.174412+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:25:00.839251+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK