The expression and its meaning of Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in eutopic and ectopic endometria in endometriosis and in eutopic endometria

Objective:To explore the expression of Cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2 ) in eutopic and ectopic endometria in endometriosis and in eutopic endometria in control women, and the effect of the occurernce and progress ofendometriosis.Methods:The subjects were examined immunohistochemically.Results:The expression of COX-2 in surface and glandular epithelia of the control gro'dp varied markedly during the menstrual cycle.It was lowest in the early proliferative phase and gradually increased thereafter. It remained high throughout the secretory phase. However, in patients with endometriosis, expression of COX-2 in glandular epithelium was higher than that in the control group, though it varied throughout the menstrual cycle.Overexpression COX-2 was observed in glandular cells from ectopic endometrial tissue of ovarian chocolate cyst walls in all cases regardless of the menstrual phase(P0.01) among eutopic endometrium the control group, eutopic endometrium in the endometriosis group and ectopic endometrium in ovarian endometriosis by the Kruskai-Wallis test.Conclusion:The expression of COX-2 in surface and glandular epithelia of the control group varied markedly during the menstrual cycle. Overexpression COX-2 was observed in glandular cells from ectopic endometrial tissue of ovarian chocolate cyst walls of endometriosis.There is some close relationship between the over expression of COX-2 and the occurrence and progression of ovarian endometriosis.