Abstract:

[Abstract] Objective To analyze the invasion and metastasis of endometrial stromal cells in endometriosis through assessing the transcription levels of COX-2, PGE2, Snail and E-cadherin mRNA. Methods Ectopic and eutopic endometri? al tissues from patients with EMs (endometriosis) or uterine fibroids were collected and cultured. The fourth generation of pu? rified endometrial stromal cells were used for research, and the transcription levels of COX-2, PGE2, Snail and E-cadherin mRNA were analyzed by RT-PCR. Results There were no statistical differences in transcription levels of COX-2, PGE2, Snail and E-cadherin mRNA in eutopic endometrial stromal cells from patients with EMs or uterine fibroids between secra? tion stage and proliferation stage（P＞ 0.05）. The transcription levels of COX-2, PGE2 and Snail mRNA were significantly in? creased while transcription level of E-cadherin mRNA was decreased in eutopic and ectopic endometrial stromal cells in pa? tients with EM compared with those in patients with uterine fibroid. And the difference was statistically significant（P＜ 0.05 or P＜ 0.01）. The transcription levels of COX-2, PGE2 and Snail mRNA were obviously higher while transcription level of E-cadherin mRNA was lower in ectopic endometrial stromal cells than those in eutopic endometrial stromal cells from pa? tients with EMs. And the difference was statistically significant（P＜ 0.05 or P＜ 0.01）. Conclusion The invasion and me? tastasis of endometrial stromal cells of patients with EMs were remarkable than those cell of patients without EMs. What’ s more, the invasion and metastasis in ectopic endometrial stromal cells were more obvious than those cells in the pathogenesis of EMs.

Key words: endometriosis, COX-2, PGE2, Snail, E-cadherin