The deep infiltrating endometriosis tissue has lower T-cadherin, E-cadherin, progesterone receptor and oestrogen receptor than endometrioma tissue

Abstract

Objective: To compare the T-cadherin, E-cadherin, PR and ER staining levels of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) tissue, ovarian endometriomas and normal endometrial tissues. Materials and methods: DIE tissue of 24 cases, endometrioma of 30 cases and normal endometrial tissues of 30 cases were examined. T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER-α and PR-α staining levels of DIE, endometrioma tissues and endometrial tissues were compared immunohistochemically. H-score was calculated to compare the expression of T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER-α, PR-α in IHC staining based on the percentage of cells stained at each intensity level. Results: T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER and PR H-score were found lowest in DIE tissue and the highest in endometrial tissue (p 0.05). Conclusion: T-cadherin, E-cadherin, ER and PR H-score were found lowest in DIE tissue, the highest in endometrium tissue. The finding of lower expression of PR-α in endometriotic nodule in our study may be related to decrease in progesterone effect which could not inhibit the decrease in the expression of T-cadherin and E-cadherin, thus the invasiveness of DIE tissue. These findings suggest that DIE tissue and ovarian endometrioma tissues have a different biology.

Keywords

• T-cadherin
• E-cadherin
• Progesterone receptor
• Oestrogen receptor
• Endometriosis