Expression of Osteopontin, Integrin αv subunit and β3 subunit in ectopic and eutopic endometrium in patients with endometriosis

Objective To study the relationship between the expression of integrin αv subunit,β3 subunit and osteopontin (OPN), and endometriosis. Methods Eutopic and ectopic endometrium was biopsied synchronously from 22 patients with endometriosis diagnosed at laparoscopy or laparotomy and confirmed as endometrioma by pathologic examination. Endometrium was biopsied from women with tubal factor infertility or myoma confirmed by surgery as control. The expression of integrinαv subunit?β3 subunit and OPN protein was determined by immunohistochemistry and semi-quantified by HSCORE. Results OPN was mainly expressed in endometrial glandular cells and on the apical portions of luminal epithelial cells with cyclic dependence and the maximal amounts were revealed in the secretory phase. Histologic score (HSCORE) for OPN expression in eutopic and ectopic endometrium of the patients with endometriosis was significantly higher than that in endomerium for control. Integrinαv subunit was predominantly expressed in the membrane of epithelial cells without cyclic dependence. No statistical difference was observed on the expression of integrin αv subunit expression between eutopic endometrium, ectopic endometrium of patients with endometriosis and endometrium of control. Integrinβ3 subunit showed a predominant staining in epithelial cells and expressed during the secretory phase. Ectopic endometrium of women with endometriosis showed a significant increase for the expression of integrinβ3 subunit compared with eutopic endometrium and controls (P0.05). Conclusion Eutopic to ectopic endometriumfrom endometriosis patients showed significantly higher expression of integrinβ3 and OPN, which may be related to the development of endometriosis and infertility.