Expressions of aquaporin-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor in eutopic and ectopic endometrium of women suffering from endometriosis

Objective:To study expressions and correlations of aquaporin-1(AQP1) and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in samples of endometrium from women suffering from endometriosis and to explore the pathogenesis of endometriosis.Methods:Expressions of AQP1 and VEGF were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining in ectopic and eutopic endometria from 36 women suffering from endometriosis(the study group) and 22 samples of normal endometrium were as the control.The scoring system(HSCORE) that incorporated both the intensity and the distribution of specific staining and was used.Spearman's rank correlation were conducted for statistical analysis.Results:AQP1 was mainly expressed in endothelial cells of capillaries,while VEGF was in endothelial cells of capillaries and interstitial cells.Expression levels of AQP1 and VEGF in the ectopic endometrium were higher than those of the eutopic endometrium in the study group(P0.05).And expression levels of AQP1 and VEGF in the eutopic endometrium of the study group were higher than those of the control group(P0.05).In the study group,expression levels of AQP1 and VEGF in the ectopic endometrium from the proliferative stage were significantly higher than those from the secretory stage(P0.01).While there were no significant differences in expression levels of AQP1 and VEGF in the eutopic endometrium as well as the endometrium of the control group between the proliferative stage and the secretory stage(P0.05).Expression levels of AQP1 in ectopic and eutopic endometria was closely positively correlated with those of VEGF in the study group(r=0.774,P=0.000;r=0.749,P=0.000).While there was no correlation between expression levels of AQP1 and VEGF in the control group(r=-0.015,P=0.946).Conclusion:AQP1 is overexpressed in the ectopic endometrium suggests that AQP1 might be related with adherence and aggression in endometrio-sis.Both AQP1 and VEGF are important in angiogenesis,which might play an important role in the promotion of endometriosis.