Modulation of leukemia inhibitory factor gene expression and protein biosynthesis in human endometrium

Implantation is the process by which the blastocyst becomes intimately connected with the maternal endometrium/decidua. The independently developing preimplantation blastocyst then becomes dependent on the maternal environment for its continued development. Although the factors involved in the regulation of blastocyst implantation are incompletely understood, recent studies strongly suggest a critical role for leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in mice. We showed previously that LIF acts on human trophoblasts to shift their differentiation toward the anchoring phenotype by increasing the synthesis of fibronectin. In the present study, we first evaluated the temporal expression of LIF in the human endometrium in order to gain further insights into the role of LIF in human implantation. We established the LIF is expressed in the endometrium in a menstrual cycle-dependent manner. The most abundant LIF messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels are observed in the mid- and late-luteal phase samples. LIF mRNA was also present in decidual tissues of first trimester of pregnancy, but levels were lower than those found in the midluteal endometrium. We then investigated the regulation of LIF expression in human endometrial cells in culture by cytokines, steroid hormones, and growth factors. We could not show any direct stimulatory evidence of steroid hormones (estradiol and progestins) on LIF mRNA expression or protein production by endometrial cells in culture. On the other hand, we showed that interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, platelet-derived growth factor, epidermal growth factor, and transforming growth factor-beta are potent inducers of LIF expression in endometrial stromal cells in culture in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Interferon-gamma acted to inhibit LIF expression induced by these cytokines. In contrast, we found high constitutive and relatively less regulated levels of LIF mRNA in the endometrial gland cells. The timing of the expression of LIF in the endometrium suggests a potential role in the implantation. The regulation of the expression of LIF may have an important role in the physiological and pathological processes involving human implantation.