Leptin, its receptor and aromatase expression in deep infiltrating endometriosis

Helder F Gonçalves, Carolina Zendron, Fernanda Sampaio Cavalcante, Fernanda S Cavalcante, Verônica Aiceles, Marco Aurélio Pinho Oliveira, Marco Aurélio P Oliveira, Jorge Henrique M Manaia, Jorge Henrique Martins Manaia, Márcio Antônio Babinski, Márcio A Babinski, Cristiane F Ramos
Journal of ovarian research · 2015 · vol. 8(1) , pp. 53 · doi:10.1186/s13048-015-0180-0 · PMID:26242176 · PMC4523920 · W2146653553
article OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 15 in-corpus citations
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View on PubMed View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study found elevated serum leptin levels and varied leptin, receptor, and aromatase expression in deep infiltrating endometriosis lesions based on location.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study evaluated serum leptin and peritoneal fluid (PF) leptin levels by ELISA, and assessed tissue protein expression of leptin, its receptor (ObR), and aromatase by Western blot in biopsies from three locations of deep infiltrating endometriosis lesions (including intestine, uterosacral ligament, and vaginal septum) in 15 women with stage IV disease, compared with 10 controls undergoing tubal ligation. Serum leptin was higher in endometriosis than controls, while PF leptin did not differ; however, within the endometriosis group, women without ovarian implants had higher leptin levels in both serum and PF. Leptin, ObR, and aromatase protein expression were increased in vaginal septum lesions and decreased in intestine lesions. A key limitation is the reduced sample size for PF analysis (only 9 endometriosis and 8 control patients) due to low or contaminated fluid, and the authors note it does not clarify leptin’s causal role in lesion development or progression. This paper is centrally about endometriosis—specifically deep infiltrating endometriosis and leptin/ObR/a aromatase expression across different lesion sites.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the leptin levels in the serum and peritoneal fluid (PF) and the protein expression in three different peritoneal ectopic implants in patients who underwent surgery for deep infiltrating endometriosis. METHODS: All patients had been treated at the Department of Gynecology of the Pedro Ernesto University Hospital, Rio de Janeiro. The study group consisted of 15 patients who underwent surgery for adnexal masses and infertility, while the control group consisted of ten women who underwent surgery for tubal ligation. Peritoneal fluid and samples tissues were collected during surgery. Serum samples were obtained before anesthesia. In this study, the leptin levels in the serum and peritoneal fluid (PF) were evaluated by ELISA. The protein expression of leptin and its receptors (ObR) and aromatase enzyme were evaluated by Western blot analysis of the intestine, uterosacral ligament and vaginal septum in the ectopic implants. The t-test and one-way ANOVA with Holm-Sìdak post-test were used, and p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: Compared to the controls, the serum leptin levels (control = 14.7 ng/mL ± 2.63, endometriosis = 19.2 ng/mL ± 1.84, p < 0.0001) were increased, while in PF, there was no difference (control = 6.68 ng/mL ± 0.43, endometriosis = 7.71 ng/mL ± 0.59, p = 0.18). Comparing women with and without ovarian implants, the leptin levels in both the serum and PF were significantly higher in women without ovarian implants (serum: with ovarian implant = 15.85 ± 1.99; without ovarian implant = 23.14 ± 2.60; ng/mL, p = 0.04; PF: with ovarian implant = 4.28 ± 1.30; without ovarian implant = 11.18 ± 2.98;ng/mL, p = 0.048). The leptin, ObR and aromatase protein expression levels were increased in lesions in the vaginal septum and were decreased in the intestine lesions. CONCLUSION: This study reports several interesting associations between the leptin levels in serum, peritoneal fluid, and tissue samples and the localization of the ectopic endometrium. Although this study does not provide a clear picture of the role of leptin in the development and progression of peritoneal implants, it contributed new data that might be useful to elucidating the enigma that is the role of leptin in endometriosis disease.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosisdie_deep_infiltratinginfertility

MeSH descriptors

Aromatase Endometriosis Leptin Receptors, Leptin Adult Aromatase Aromatase Ascitic Fluid Ascitic Fluid Body Mass Index Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic Humans Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Infertility, Female Infertility, Female

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (46)

Cited by (15)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-13T06:22:48.782012+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
pubmed
last seen: 2026-05-13T22:17:46.044120+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK