Interleukin-6, interleukin-10 and interleukin-12 in vaginal fluid from women with bacterial vaginosis

摘要

Background There has been a recent recognition on the influence of local vaginal immunity on the acquisition of vulvovaginal disorders and their adverse consequences. Variations in local immune responses seem to play an important role in susceptibility to different vaginal infections as well as to the likelihood of recurrences. Bacterial vaginosis (BV), the most frequent vaginal disorder in most populations, is enigmatic in that the etiology is unknown, recurrences are common and vaginal inflammation is absent. We investigated the influence of BV on the vaginal concentration of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-12, the pleiotropic cytokine IL-6 and the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in non-pregnant women.