Evaluation of ELAM-1 expression alteration in endometriosis

Endometriosis is a commonly-encountered gynecological disease characterized by the presence of endometrial glandular and stromal cells outside of the uterus. Several studies have been conducted on endometriosis, however its molecular mechanism and pathogenesis are still not completely clear. The role of ELAM-1 gene in mediating the adhesion of tumor cells to endothelial cells by binding to ELAM-1 ligands expressed by eosinophils, neutrophils, monocytes, natural killer cell effectors, T lymphocyte cells, and cancer (progenitor/stem) cells is well studied. Our hypothesis proposes that the alteration in ELAM-1 mRNA level is a significant point in successful transplantation deregulations of effective migration genes, which may be related to endometrial proliferative disorders such as endometriosis.

In this study, real time-PCR, Western blotting and immunohistochemistry have been used in order to determine the expression pattern of ELAM-1 gene in 22 patients. For the validation study, a control group of 8 healthy women was recruited. Comparison of the prognostic accuracy of ELAM-1 with other clinical and pathological risk factors were analyzed by logistic regression.

The endometriosis tissues from women aged 33±7 years (mean ± SEM) were assessed. The results showed that the ELAM-1 mRNA expression is significantly higher in patients group compare control group (P=0.0001). Moreover, in the samples of stages III and IV, ELAM-1 gene has expressed more (P<0.001). ELAM-1 immunostaining expressed positive staining in the patients group. ELAM-1 protein expression level was correlated directly with American Fertility Society Score and depicted no correlation with age.

According to our results, ELAM-1 upregulation may promote disorder in adhesion, and migration of the cells leading to the endometriosis disorder.