G-CSF and IL-6 may be involved in formation of endometriosis lesions by increasing the expression of angiogenic factors in neutrophils

Fang Guo, Yongpei He, Yixian Fan, Zhenzhen Du, Huanhuan Sun, Zuo‐Hua Feng, Zuohua Feng, Guimei Zhang, Ting Xiong
Molecular human reproduction · 2021 · vol. 27(11) · doi:10.1093/molehr/gaab064 · PMID:34643696 · W3207895046
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 28 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

G-CSF and IL-6 increase neutrophil expression of angiogenic factors, potentially promoting endometriosis lesion formation by altering Mmp9, Bv8, and Trail genes via STAT3.

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

Abstract

Evidence accumulated in recent years has revealed that neutrophils are involved in the initial establishment of endometriosis, which is well-known as a chronic inflammatory disease. So far, why and how neutrophils promote the formation of early endometriosis are still unclear. In this study, using a mouse model of endometriosis, we demonstrated that endometriosis mice (EMs mice) had a significantly increased number of neutrophils in peritoneal fluids and lesions, and increased levels of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and IL-6 in serum and peritoneal fluids compared to the control group. In the neutrophils and uterine fragments co-injection experiment, neutrophils regulated by G-CSF and IL-6 had a similar effect to neutrophils from EMs mice, increasing the number, area, weight and microvessel density (MVD) of endometriotic lesions. Blocking the effect of G-CSF and IL-6 in EMs mice resulted in a decrease in the number, area and weight of endometriotic lesions. Following the depletion of neutrophils in vivo using a anti-Ly6G antibody, the MVD in the lesions of mice treated with neutrophils from EMs mice and neutrophils from pG/pI6 mice were significantly reduced. Neutrophils from EMs mice and neutrophils from pG/pI6 mice altered the expression levels of Mmp9, Bv8 and Trail genes compared to the neutrophils from PBS-treated mice. IL-6 together with G-CSF induced a higher expression of phospho-STAT3 and STAT3 in neutrophils. These findings suggest that neutrophils modulated by G-CSF and IL-6 through the STAT3 pathway alter the expression levels of the angiogenesis-related genes Mmp9, Bv8 and Trail, and may promote the establishment of early endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor Interleukin-6 Neovascularization, Pathologic Neutrophils Animals Disease Models, Animal Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Female Gastrointestinal Hormones Gastrointestinal Hormones Gastrointestinal Hormones Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor

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 (74)

Cited by (28)

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: 2026-05-13T22:24:14.728497+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK