The expression of Livin and Caspase-9 in endometriosis

Objective To investigate the functions of apoptosis modulator Livin and Caspase-9 in the pathogenesis of endometriosis and their relationship.Methods We recruited 30 women with endometriosis as the study group and 30 women without endometriosis as control. The ectopic endometrium (group A) and the eutopic endometrium (group B) from the study group, as well as the endometrium (group C) from the control group were collected to measure the expressions of Livin and Caspase-9 by immunohistochemical SP method and the images were analyzed by computer image analysis system.Results ① The expression of Livin was signifi-cantly higher in Group A (142.55±36.27) and Group B (141.69±26.61) than Group C (113.26±10.22). The expression of Caspase-9 was signifi-cantly lower in Group A (120.37±23.31) and Group B (119.37±17.03) than in Group C (154.78±10.02). No significant difference of Livin or Caspase-9 expression was found between Group A and Group B. ② The expression of Caspase-9 was negatively related to Livin in Group A and Group B (r1=-0.609,r2=-0.443,P10.01,P20.05). ③ No significant difference was found in the expression of Livin in Group A or Group C between the proliferative phase [(141.63±36.69),(112.01±8.93)] and the secretory phase[(143.75±37.16),(115.13±12.07)], as well as the expression of Caspase-9 in group A [(118.23±24.69), (124.07±21.31)]. The expression of Caspase-9 was signifi-cantly lower in the proliferative phase than the secretory phase in Group C,(150.93±3.04) vs.(159.18±13.20),P0.05.Conclusions The expression of Livin increased but the expression of Caspase-9 decreased in the eutopic endometrioum of the women with endometriosis. It may contribute to the higher resistance to apoptosis of the endometrium cells, which may play an important role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.