The immunoprofile of interstitial Cajal cells within adenomyosis/endometriosis lesions

Adenomyosis and endometriosis are lesions which have aroused the interest for the investigation of antibodies specific to the structures from the composition, but also for the cause behind the appearance of these lesions in completely different structures. The impact they have on fertility is not known entirely, for they are difficult to diagnose. Endometriosis causes infertility and it is a hard to treat lesion. The research performed in the last years has been focused on the so-called linkage analysis, or reverse genetics. It refers to identifying the genes which are prone to developing this affection. We investigated clinically 40 female inpatients (n=40) who had underwent genital surgery and received a variegate diagnosis in the "Sf. Ioan" Emergency Hospital, Bucharest, Romania, between January-September 2014 and also their histopathology and immunohistochemistry. We proceeded with the histopathology examination in order to establish a diagnosis in respect to the admission diagnosis and then, using the ABC (Avidin-Biotin complex) method, we analyzed the immunohistochemistry of the following markers: S100 protein (for detection of ganglia and nerve cells), CD117÷c-kit (selective detection of interstitial Cajal cells - ICC), desmin and vimentin (intermediary filaments for detecting ICC-like cells, which cohabit with uterine myocytes and are not contractile cells) and CD10 (a sensitive and useful immunomarker in the diagnosis of endometrial stroma and, in some cases, of neoplasia). Our study, regarding the immunoprofile of some markers of adenomyosis÷endometriosis lesions, supports the hypothesis that the interstitial Cajal cells are non-reactive, they are not in relationship with investigated lesions, but CD10 is a very useful marker to highlight the endometrial stroma in query cases.