Treatment for infertility may benefit from new research which shows that immune cells may promote the formation of new blood vessels.
Lesions from endometriosis, a condition commonly associated with infertility, affects approximately 15 percent of women of reproductive age. Formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) encourages the growth of lesions.
Research by scientists at Harvard Medical School shows that the growth of new blood vessels in mice is triggered in part by highly specialised immune cells called dendritic cells.
When they injected mice with excess dendritic cells, they were able to demonstrate that the endometrial lesions in the mice grew and developed more blood vessels.
It appears that treatment designed to slow the growth of blood vessels by targeting dendritic cells may be effective.
According to lead researcher and research associate at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Ofer Fainaru, it may be possible to treat conditions like endometriosis and cancer by targeting dendritic cells.
The study is published in the FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) Journal.