A monokine stimulates prostaglandin-E2 production by human amnion.

The studies reported in this communication were designed to test the hypothesis that products of mononuclear cells are capable of stimulating prostaglandin E2 production by human amnion. Conditioned media obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells were incubated with amnion cells in primary culture. A dose dependent increase in PGE2 biosynthesis was observed in response to increasing amounts of the conditioned media. These observations suggest that mononuclear cells produce a factor(s) capable of stimulating prostaglandin production by amnion cells. The signal responsible for the increased biosynthesis of prostaglandins by human amnion associated with parturition in the setting of intraamniotic infection may be of host origin.