Immunoreactivity of Kisspeptin and Kisspeptin Receptor in Eutopic and Ectopic Endometrial Tissue of Women With and Without Endometriosis

Endometriosis is characterized by the presence of ectopic endometrial tissues. Mechanisms of tissue dissemination in endometriosis may be similar to those involved in tumor metastasis. We hypothesize that dysregulation of kisspeptin (KISS1), a metastasis suppressor in endometrial carcinoma, may contribute to the pathogenesis of endometriosis. In this study, we characterized the immunoreactivity of kisspeptin and its receptor, KISS1R, in eutopic and ectopic endometrial tissue of women with and without endometriosis, in proliferative and secretory menstrual cycle phases. Immunohistochemistry was performed using KISS1 and KISS1R antibodies on samples from women with (n = 35) and without (n = 14) endometriosis. Samples from women with endometriosis included eutopic endometrium (n = 20) samples, superficial endometriotic implants (SUP, n = 10) deep infiltrating endometriotic implants (DIE, n = 15), and ovarian endometriomas (OMA, n = 15). Immunoreactivity was quantified using histoscores. KISS1 and KISS1R immunoreactivity was significantly lower in eutopic endometrial stroma of women with versus without endometriosis, regardless of the menstrual cycle phase (P = 0.001 and P = 0.015 respectively). In endometriotic implants, KISS1 levels were significantly lower in both glandular and stromal components of DIE (P < 0.01) and OMA (P < 0.01) compared to SUP. KISS1R immunoreactivity was lower in the glandular component of OMA (P = 0.035) compared to SUP. KISS1 and KISS1R levels are lower in eutopic endometrial stroma from women with versus without endometriosis, consistent with a role for decreased KISS1 expression in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. As deeply invasive lesions showed lower KISS1 levels than superficial lesions, downregulation of KISS1 levels may contribute to implant invasiveness. Similar content being viewed by others

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Funding This project was internally funded by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, and by the joint supervision scholarships program, Egyptian Ministry of higher education, Cairo, Egypt. Author information Authors and Affiliations Corresponding author Ethics declarations Conflict of Interests The authors declare that they have is no conflict of interest. Additional information Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This work was completed at the British Columbia Women’s Hospital, Vancouver, Canada and the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, Canada. Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article Abdelkareem, A.O., Alotaibi, F.T., AlKusayer, G.M. et al. Immunoreactivity of Kisspeptin and Kisspeptin Receptor in Eutopic and Ectopic Endometrial Tissue of Women With and Without Endometriosis. Reprod. Sci. 27, 1731–1741 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-020-00167-w Received: Accepted: Published: Version of record: Issue date: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-020-00167-w