Expressions of PTEN and Akt and relationship to adenomyosis

Objective To explore expressions of PTEN and Akt proteins in adenomyosis tissues,and to provide a theoretic basis on the development,progress and therapy of adenomysis.Methods Immunohistochemical staining with SP method was used to determine expression of PTEN,Akt and P-Akt in the ectopic lesions with myometrium of adenomyosis group(30 cases),the eutopic endometrium group(27 cases),and the normal endometrium group(20 cases).Results In gland cells,PTEN protein expression in the ectopic lesion group was the lowest among the three groups.The PTEN expression in the normal endometrium group was the highest in them(P0.01).Expressions of Akt and P-Akt proteins in the ectopic lesion of adenomyosis group were higher than those in the eutopic endometrium in adenomyosis group(P0.05)and significantly higher than those in the normal endometrium(P0.01).Expressions of Akt and P-Akt in eutopic endometrium with adenomyosis were higher than those of normal endometrium(P0.01).In stroma cells,the PTEN protein expression in ectopic and eutopic lesions of adenomyosis was significantly lower than that in normal endometrium,but there was no statistical significance between the two groups.Expressions of Akt and P-Akt proteins in ectopic and eutopic lesions of adenomyosis were significantly higher than those in normal endometrium,but also there were no statistical differences.There were negative correlations among expressions of Akt,P-Akt,and PTEN in ectopic lesions,eutopic endometrium of adenomyosis and normal endometrium(r=-0.444,r=-0.546).Conclusion While PTEN protein expression is low,expressions of Akt and P-Akt proteins are high in ectopic and eutopic lesions of adenomyosis.Hypoexpression of PTEN can not inhibit abnormal activation of Akt,which might play an important role in the pathogenesis and development of adenomyosis.