Aberrant expression of metastasis-inducing proteins in ectopic and matched eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis: implications for the pathogenesis of endometriosis

D Hapangama, D K Hapangama, RS Raju, R S Raju, A J Valentijn, Anthony Valentijn, Dong L. Barraclough, D Barraclough, A Hart, A. A. M. Hart, M A Turner, M. Turner, A Platt-Higgins, Angela Platt‐Higgins, R Barraclough, Roger Barraclough, Philip S. Rudland, P S Rudland
Human Reproduction · 2011 · vol. 27(2) , pp. 394–407 · doi:10.1093/humrep/der412 · PMID:22147918 · W2132173661
article OA: bronze CC0 ⤵ 28 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study found increased expression of metastasis-inducing proteins (S100P, S100A4, OPN, AGR2) in secretory phase eutopic and ectopic endometrium from women with endometriosis compared to controls.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a metastatic disease without obvious tumorigenesis. Expression of S100P, S100A4, osteopontin (OPN) or anterior gradient homologue 2 (AGR2) proteins can induce metastasis but fail to induce tumorigenesis per se. We now explore whether this group of metastasis-inducing proteins (MIPs) are associated with the pathogenesis of endometriosis. METHODS: Eutopic endometrial biopsies were taken from 73 women (35 fertile women without endometriosis and 38 women with surgically diagnosed endometriosis). Ectopic endometriotic lesions were collected from eight of the women with endometriosis. The expression of MIPs at the cellular level was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and the presence of these proteins in the endometrial tissues was verified by western blotting and their gene expression was confirmed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: All four MIPs were immunolocated in the endometrium of control women and S100P, AGR2 and OPN showed a cyclical variation. Proliferative phase eutopic endometrium of both groups showed a similar staining pattern for all MIPs, whereas secretory phase endometrium showed a differential expression between controls and cases. The secretory phase endometrial immunostaining of controls showed weak stromal and perivascular AGR2, and decreased stromal and glandular S100P. In contrast, immunostaining for all MIPs was increased in the late secretory endometrial samples of women with endometriosis and intense immunostaining was seen for S100A4 in the stroma (P< 0.05) and for S100P (P< 0.001) and AGR2 (P< 0.0001) in both glands and stroma (P< 0.001). All active peritoneal endometriotic lesions showed strong immunostaining for each of the MIPs studied. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that these MIPs enhance endometrial cell invasiveness and contribute to the establishment of ectopic endometriotic deposits after retrograde menstruation.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

MeSH descriptors

Calcium-Binding Proteins Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Menstrual Cycle Neoplasm Proteins Proteins S100 Proteins Adolescent Adult Calcium-Binding Proteins Calcium-Binding Proteins Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometrium Endometrium Endothelial Cells Endothelial Cells Endothelial Cells Epithelial Cells

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (65)

Cited by (28)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-11T06:19:48.454388+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:16:29.858026+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK