THE ROLE OF BETA-CATENIN AND FOXP1 IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF POLYPOID ENDOMETRIOSIS

Objective: To investigate whether beta catenin and Forkhead box protein P1 (FOXP1) play a role in pathogenesis of polypoid endometriosis (PE).Material and Method: Our study included fifteen cases of PE. Clinical findings were gathered from archived files of relevant clinics and pathology reports. All glass slides were re-examined for confirmation of the diagnosis and the detection of additional microscopic findings. An immunohistochemical examination was performed using anti beta catenin and FOXP1 antibodies in fifteen cases of PE, and in a control group that contained nine cases of endometrial polyps (EP) and nine cases of conventional ovarian endometriosis (OE).Result: Stromal nuclear beta catenin expression was observed in six cases in PE, five cases in EP and one case in the OE group. Stromal FOXP1 staining in PE and EP was significantly reduced as compared to OE. Five PE and two EP cases showed stromal FOXP1 staining while all the OE cases showed stromal FOXP1 staining. The Stromal FOXP1 staining was statistically significant between PE vs OE (p=0.002) and EP vs OE (p=0.023) cases. There was no difference between PE and the control cases in terms of nuclear beta catenin staining (p=0.69). There was no correlation between these two antibodies and histologic features.Conclusion: The loss of stromal FOXP1 is another biological difference of PE and the overall similarity of expression of FOXP1between PE and EP could be regarded as a contributing factor for polyp formation.