To investigate the clinical significance of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) produced by endometriotic tissues, the endometriotic tissues were taken from 15 patients with endometriosis. MCP-1 mRNA and MCP-1 protein were determined by dot blot analysis and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in endometriotic cells cultured with or without interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta, 2 micrograms/L), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha, 20 g/L). After exposure to IL-1 beta or TNF-alpha, the expression of MCP-1 mRNA in the endometriotic cells (8.635 +/- 0.826, 7.031 +/- 0.970, respectively) were significantly higher than that in the control group (4.482 +/- 0.435, P < 0.05); The expression of MCP-1 protein in IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha group was 4.52 +/- 0.09 micrograms/L, 2.87 +/- 0.27 micrograms/L, respectively, which were significantly higher than 1.74 +/- 0.16 micrograms/L in control (P < 0.01). The results suggested that IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha could up-regulate the expression of MCP-1 in endometriotic cells, which might be related to the development of endometriosis.