Down-regulation of HLA-DRs and HLA-DPs reflects the deficiency of antigen-presenting cells in endometrium from infertile women with and without ovarian endometriosis

Li Jiang, Xi Wang, Tingting Zhang, Huan Chen, Zhangming Wei, Tianjiao Li, Yuqing Wu, Zeying Li, Xiaoling Fang
Human fertility (Cambridge, England) · 2021 · vol. 25(4) , pp. 716–727 · doi:10.1080/14647273.2021.1902576 · PMID:33787425 · W3143936268
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This study found that down-regulation of HLA-DR and HLA-DP molecules, reflecting a deficiency in antigen-presenting cells, is a common molecular change in infertile endometria from women with and without endometriosis.

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Abstract

This study aimed to explore common molecular changes in the infertile endometrium from women with and without endometriosis (EM). By analyzing the dataset GSE120103 from Gene Expression Omnibus, a total of 3252 shared differentially expressed genes were identified between ovarian EM in infertile vs. fertile endometrium and EM-free infertile vs. fertile endometrium. In addition, the gene annotation and pathway analysis of the shared differentially expressed genes with the same expression trend indicated that the pathway 'MHC class II antigen presentation' and five candidate genes: HLA-DRA, HLA-DRB1, HLA-DRB3, HLA-DPA1, HLA-DPB1 were both down-regulated in infertile endometrium with or without EM. Logistic regression showed that HLA-DRA might be an independent predictor of the infertile status of the endometrium. Single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) showed that some classic antigen-presenting cells: macrophages type 1, macrophages type 2, and mature dendritic cells were significantly down-regulated in infertile endometrium with or without EM, whose enrichment correlated positively with the expression of candidate HLA molecules. Hence, the down-regulation of HLA-DRs and HLA-DPs reflecting the deficiency of antigen-presenting cells in endometrium might serve as a common biomarker for diagnosing endometrium-associated infertility in women with and without endometriosis.

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Condition tags

mesh:D004715endometriosisinfertility

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Antigen-Presenting Cells Antigen-Presenting Cells Down-Regulation Endometrium Endometrium Female HLA-DP Antigens HLA-DP Antigens HLA-DP Antigens HLA-DR alpha-Chains HLA-DR alpha-Chains HLA-DR alpha-Chains Humans

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