Expression of CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 in patients with adenomyosis

Juan Li, Geping Yin, Ming Chen, Shujun Yang, Aifang Wu, Jing Liang, Zhengrong Yuan, Zheng Yuan
Oncology letters · 2017 · vol. 13(4) , pp. 2731–2736 · doi:10.3892/ol.2017.5762 · PMID:28454459 · PMC5403167 · W2590703286
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

CXCL12 and CXCR4 protein and mRNA expression are significantly increased in adenomyosis tissues compared to controls, suggesting their involvement in the disease's pathogenesis.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This study investigated the roles of chemokine CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 in adenomyosis by measuring CXCL12/CXCR4 protein and mRNA in eutopic endometrium and ectopic adenomyosis foci using immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. Tissue samples from 36 patients with adenomyosis were compared with endometrial tissues from 33 patients undergoing uterine fibroids surgery as controls, and expression levels were analyzed statistically with ANOVA and post hoc testing. CXCL12 and CXCR4 protein were significantly increased in ectopic foci versus eutopic tissue within adenomyosis patients, and both were also higher in eutopic tissue and ectopic foci than in controls; mRNA findings largely paralleled the protein results, with no significant differences across proliferative versus secretory phases. The study’s key limitation is that it is observational and does not directly test functional causality beyond the expression patterns. This paper is centrally about endometriosis/adenomyosis — specifically, adenomyosis — by characterizing CXCL12/CXCR4 expression changes in ectopic adenomyosis foci versus eutopic endometrium and controls.

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12) and its receptor, chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 (CXCR4) in the pathogenesis of adenomyosis (AD). Immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis were used to measure the protein and mRNA expression of CXCL12 and CXCR4 in eutopic endometrial and ectopic foci tissue samples. Samples from a total of 36 patients with AD (study group) were compared with endometrial tissue samples from 33 patients who underwent uterine fibroids surgery (control group) during the same period. All data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation and were analyzed with SPSS software (version 16.0). Analysis of variance was used for between group analysis and pairwise comparison was performed using Fisher's least significant difference post hoc test. The results of the present study revealed that CXCL12 and CXCR4 protein expression was significantly increased in ectopic foci tissue compared with eutopic endometrial tissue samples from patients with AD. CXCL12 and CXCR4 protein expression in ectopic foci and eutopic endometrial tissue samples were significantly increased compared with the control group (P<0.05 for between group comparisons). No significant differences were identified in CXCL12 and CXCR4 protein expression between the proliferative and secretory phases within each group. Furthermore, CXCL12 and CXCR4 mRNA expression was significantly increased in ectopic foci tissue and eutopic endometrial tissue compared with the control group (P<0.05 for between group comparisons). CXCL12 mRNA expression was markedly increased in ectopic foci tissue compared with eutopic endometrial tissue of patients with AD. The expression of CXCR4 mRNA was significantly increased in eutopic endometrial tissue compared with ectopic foci tissue and the control group (P<0.05 for between group comparisons). No significant differences were identified in CXCL12 and CXCR4 mRNA expression between proliferative and secretory phase within each group. In conclusion, CXCL12 and CXCR4 may induce the ectopia, and promote the spread and localized growth of endometrial cells in the development of AD.

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adenomyosis

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