Endometriosis: clinical aspects

Material & Methods: This study aimed to examine the biological implications of progesterone receptor subunits A (PRA) and B (PRB) mRNA expressions by analyzing the pattern of PRB/PRAB ratio in endometrial cells from women with pelvic endometriosis carrying the PROGINS polymorphism. Eutopic endometrium was collected from women with endometriosis who had a single PROGINS allele of the PR gene (E-PR, n 6), from women with endometriosis with the wild-type PR allele (E-PR-, n 6) and from women without endometriosis with the wild-type allele (C-PR-, n 5). Cells prepared from the eutopic endometrium of these women were then examined for progesterone receptor expression analysis by quantitative real time PCR after stimulation with estradiol. Results: Higher expression of PRB mRNA was found in the control group (3.916.9) compared with endometriosis E-PR-(1.39+0.1) and E-PR (0.31+3.0) groups, C-PR-vs. E-PR-(p 0.96), C-PR-vs. E-PR (p 0.73), and E-PR-vs. E-PR (p 0.58). The mean ratio of PRB to PRAB (PRAPRB) mRNA expression was decreased in the endometriosis group of PROGINS carriers (0.31+0.2) compared with non-carriers (0.53+0.4) and controls (1.32+1.1), but significantly lower when E-PR and C-PR-groups were compared (p 0.048), whereas C-PR-vs. E-PR-(p 0.12), and E-PRvs E-PR (p 0.24) were not significant.