Icaritin inhibits decidualization of endometrial stromal cells

Aiwen Le, Wang Zhong, Xiao Dai, Tian Xiao, Rong Zhuo, Baozhen Zhang, Zhonglin Xiao, Xiujun Fan
In: Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine · 2017 · vol. 14(6) , pp. 5949–5955 · doi:10.3892/etm.2017.5278 · PMID:29285144 · PMC5740763 · W2761868639
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 2 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

Icaritin inhibited decidualization of endometrial stromal cells in vitro by reducing prolactin and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 expression.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-09 ⓘ

The study investigated how Icaritin affects proliferation and decidualization of human endometrial stromal cells obtained from hysterectomy specimens and separated into primary stromal cells, using an in vitro decidualization model induced by estradiol plus progesterone and/or cAMP for 96 hours. Decidualization was assessed by morphological changes and by measuring PRL and IGFBP-1 mRNA (RT-qPCR), PRL protein (immunostaining), and IGFBP-1 protein secretion (ELISA). Icaritin added to the induction cocktails inhibited PRL expression and reduced IGFBP-1 mRNA and protein levels in induced stromal cells compared with conditions without Icaritin. The paper does not establish the underlying mechanism, stating that further mechanistic investigation is required. This paper relates to endometriosis and/or adenomyosis by addressing endometrial stromal decidualization regulation with an estrogenic compound (icaritin), which is relevant to endometrial dysfunction seen in those conditions even though endometriosis/adenomyosis are not directly discussed.

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of Icaritin on the proliferation and decidualization of endometrial stromal cells (ESCs). A total of 20 specimens of endometrium were collected during hysterectomy at the Gynecology Department of Shenzhen Nanshan People's Hospital (Shenzhen, China) between August 2014 and December 2015. The endometrium was digested with high concentrations of collagenase and DNase and filtered with meshes, and then the glandular epithelial and stromal cells were separated by the adhesion purification method. The purity of stromal cells was identified by vimetin and cytokeratin 7 immunostaining. The estradiol + progesterone (E2+P4) and/or cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) were added to induce an in vitro decidualization model, which was used to analyze the effect of Icaritin on the decidualization ability of the human ESCs. The decidualization markers of human ESCs, prolactin (PRL) and insulin‑like growth factor‑binding protein 1 (IGFBP‑1), was analyzed by reverse‑transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction measurements of the mRNA levels, PRL immunostaining and ELISA analysis of the IGFBP‑1 protein levels in the cells or cell culture supernatant separately. The results demonstrated that treatment with E2+P4 and/or cAMP for 96 h was able to induce decidualization in ESCs, and that the cells demonstrated polygon‑shaped epithelioid changes. The cell nuclei revealed multinuclear changes, and the cells were also observed to be large and round in shape. The PRL expression and upregulated IGFBP‑1 mRNA and protein levels in the E2+P4+cAMP treatment group indicated successful decidualization of the in vitro model. However, the addition of Icaritin inhibited the expression of PRL and IGFBP‑1 mRNA, as well as IGFBP‑1 protein in the induced ESCs compared with groups without Icaritin. These results suggest that Icaritin was able to inhibit the expression of decidualization‑related genes in ESCs in vitro. However, the exact mechanisms require further investigation.

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