Expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor A, mucin-1, colony-stimulating factor-1, heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor, and fibroblast growth factor 2 genes in the female reproductive tracts of women with ectopic pregnancy: A case-control study.

Golkar S, Chekini Z, Amjadi F, Afsharian P, Najafian A, Firouzeh Ghaffari, Aflatoonian R
International journal of reproductive biomedicine · 2023 · doi:10.18502/ijrm.v21i10.14535 · PMID:38077947 · PMC10698352
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This case-control study found that mucin-1 and HBEGF expression levels differ significantly between fallopian tubes of women with ectopic pregnancy and controls, suggesting these genes play a role in embryo implantation.

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This case-control study investigated the expression of five genes involved in implantation and angiogenesis within the fallopian tubes and endometria of women with ectopic pregnancy compared to controls. The researchers analyzed tissue samples from five participants in each group using real-time PCR to measure mRNA levels of VEGF-A, MUC1, CSF1, HBEGF, and FGF2. Results indicated that VEGF-A expression was significantly lower in the ampulla region of ectopic pregnancy cases, while MUC1 showed higher expression in both the ampulla and endometrium of these patients; no significant differences were found for CSF1 or FGF2. Although the paper explicitly excluded women with uterine diseases such as endometriosis from its study population to isolate factors related to ectopic implantation, it is not centrally about endometriosis or adenomyosis but rather focuses on tubal and endometrial gene dysregulation in ectopic pregnancy.

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Abstract

BackgroundEctopic pregnancy (EP) is defined as embryo implantation in a location other than the uterine cavity.ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate the expression of several genes, which may play a role in EP, in the ampulla region of fallopian tubes and endometrial tissue of women with EP.Materials and methodsIn this case-control study, 5 women who underwent salpingectomy due to EP, comprised the 5 pseudo-pregnant women as a control group. These participants referred to the Royan Institute, Shariati, and Arash hospital, Tehran, Iran during 2019-2021. We evaluated the expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor A, mucin-1, colony-stimulating factor-1, heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HBEGF), and fibroblast growth factor 2 genes in the fallopian tube and endometrium of EP cases by real-time polymerase chain reaction using specific primers.ResultsThe vascular endothelial growth factor expression was significantly higher in the ampulla region of the controls. However, no significant differences were observed in endometrial tissue. Assessments of colony-stimulating factor-1 and fibroblast growth factor 2 showed no significant differences between the case and control groups. HBEGF showed significantly higher expression in the ampulla region of EP cases, but no significant difference was observed in HBEGF expression in the endometrial tissues of the study groups. Mucin-1expression was significantly higher in both study regions of the EP cases.ConclusionOur results have strongly suggested that these genes play important roles in proper implantation, and disruptions in their expression patterns could lead to EP. However, more studies are needed to confirm the current findings.
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Our results have shown new evidence about the role of VEGF-A, MUC1, FGF2, CSF1, and HBEGF genes in EP. This is the first study that compares expressions of these genes in both fallopian tube tissue and endometrial tissue. The results strongly suggested that these genes play important roles in proper embryo implantation, and disruptions in their expression patterns could lead to EP. However, more studies should be conducted to confirm the current findings, especially for CSF1. Also, an evaluation of the expression patterns in larger populations is recommended to confirm these results.

Coi Statement

All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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