[Expression and significance of ET-1 and its receptors in endometriosis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the expression of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and its receptors (ET(A)R, ET(B)R) in patients with endometriosis and to explore the possible role of them in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. METHODS: The tissues of ectopic and eutopic endometrium were collected from 48 cases of endometriosis (EM), while the control samples were eutopic endometrium from 13 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The expressions and locations of ET-1, ET(A)R, ET(B)R were measured by immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: The expression levels of ET-1 and ET(A)R of EMs group, either in eutopic or in ectopic endometrium, were higher than those of the control group (All P<0.01). Moreover, the expression levels of ET-1 and ETAR in eutopic endometrium were higher than those in ectopic endometrium. There were significant correlations between the expression of ET-1 and ETAR in EMs group, either for eutopic or for ectopic endometrium (r=0.970, 0.968 respectively, All P0.05). There was no significant difference in the expression level of ET-1, ET(A)R and ET(B)R in proliferative phase and secretory phase in both EMs group and control group (All P>0.05). The expression levels of ET-1, ET(A)R and ET(B)R were not associated with r-AFS staging of endometriosis (All P>0.05). CONCLUSION: By the way of combining ET(A)R, ET-1 may play a important role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.