Expression of BDNF and TrKB in Endometriosis and Dysmenorrhea

Sha Wang, Bohan Li, Wei Hong, Hua Duan, Xiao Li, Yiyi Wang, Zhengchen Guo
In: Research Square · 2021 · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-625937/v1 · W3174334689
preprint OA: green CC0
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

BDNF and TrkB expression in endometriosis lesions increases with disease stage and correlates with dysmenorrhea severity, suggesting roles in disease progression and pain.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This paper studied BDNF and its high-affinity receptor TrKB expression in women undergoing laparoscopy for ovarian endometrioma (n=62) versus ovarian benign tumors without endometriosis (n=16), comparing eutopic and ectopic endometrial tissues by RT-qPCR and immunohistochemical H-score quantification. It found that BDNF and TrKB protein expression were highest in ovarian endometriotic lesions, intermediate in eutopic endometrium, and lower in normal endometrium, with expression increasing across endometriosis stages (r-AFS I–IV), and that RT-qPCR results matched immunohistochemistry. The study also reported positive correlations between BDNF/TrKB mRNA in eutopic endometrium and dysmenorrhea severity measured by VAS, including a stronger correlation for BDNF (r=0.82). The paper’s key limitation is that it provides observational expression and correlation data from surgically selected patients without a direct mechanistic or longitudinal assessment. This paper is centrally about endometriosis—measuring stage-dependent BDNF and TrKB expression in eutopic and ectopic endometrial tissue and relating it to endometriosis-associated dysmenorrhea.

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Abstract

Abstract Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been recognized as a regulator in the formation and maintenance of chronic pain in various chronic disorders. BDNF together with its high-affinity tyrosine kinase type B (TrkB) receptor were found to be extensively expressed in mammalian female reproductive system. However, BDNF and TrkB expression in different stages of endometriosis, and the correlation between their expression in ectopic lesions and endometriosis pain remains unclear. Methods: This study enrolled 78 women underwent laparoscopic surgery. 62 women diagnosed as ovarian endometrioma, were recruited in the study group.16 women diagnosed as ovarian benign tumors were in the control group. The message RNA (mRNA) level of BDNF and TrKB was detected by real-time PCR, while the protein level was detected by immunohistochemical staining for eutopic and ectopic endometrium in both groups. Dysmenorrhea was assessed by the visual analogue scale (VAS) before the surgery. Results: Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the expression of BDNF and TrKB in ovarian endometriotic lesions was the highest, followed by those in eutopic and normal endometrium ( P <0.05). There was significant difference among each stage of endometriosis for the expression, which increased with the severity of stages. The results of RT-qPCR and immunohistochemistry were consistent with each other. Furthermore, The correlation between the mRNA expression of BDNF, TrKB in eutopic endometrium, and dysmenorrhea VAS score revealed that r=0.52 and 0.56, respectively (P<0.05). And when it came to BDNF, TrKB in eutopic endometrium, the correlation (r) was 0.82 (P<0.05). Conclusions: BDNF and TrKB may play essential roles in promoting disease progression during the development of endometriosis, and are closely related to dysmenorrhea caused by endometriosis.

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Outcome instruments

VAS-pain

Condition tags

endometriosisendometriomadysmenorrhea

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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 (20)

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