Endometriosis is a common disease of women. In the present study, the expression of osteopontin (OPN), integrin αvβ3 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in tissue of endometriosis were studied in order to investigate their functions and the clinical value. The result of the present study revealed that OPN was expressed in the gland epithelium cells, and the expression of OPN in ectopi...

Background Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease characterized by the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. This disease affects approximately 10% of women in reproductive age and is associated with pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea and infertility. The theory of involvement of stem cells is a considered new hypothesis in etiology of endometriosis.The aim of this study wa...

Endometrial thickness is defined as the minimal distance between the echogenic interfaces of myometrium and endometrium. An adequate thickness of endometrium is indispensable for embryo implantation [1-4]. The minimum endometrial thickness that may cause a successful implantation is called “threshold thickness”. The endometrium that is thinner than “threshold thickness” is called “thin endometr...

UNLABELLED In our study we investigated immunohistochemical expression of retinoblastoma protein (pRb) in physiological endometrium (n = 15), hyperplastic endometrium (n = 61) and post-hormone replacement therapy (HRT) endometrium (n = 24). METHODS We performed an immunohistochemical analysis of pRb expression in 100 specimens of human endometrium. RESULTS The average pRb immunoexpression i...

BACKGROUND Estradiol (E(2)) is an important promoter of the growth of both eutopic and ectopic endometrium. The findings with regard to the expression and activity of steroidogenic enzymes in endometrium of controls, in endometrium of endometriosis patients and in endometriotic lesions are not consistent. METHODS In this study, we have looked at the mRNA expression and protein levels of a ran...

The endometrium plays a key role in reproduction, and this function is tightly regulated by endogenous and xenobiotic steroids. Sulphation, catalysed by members of the sulphotransferase (SULT) enzyme family, is a major deactivating mechanism for steroid hormones and we have investigated the expression and regulation in vivo of SULT in the human endometrium. In the normal cycling endometrium, ex...

endometriosis is a common gynaecological disease that can cause severe pelvic pain such as dysmenorrhoea and dyspareunia, however the mechanisms by which pain is generated are not well understood. nerve fibres in endometriotic plaques have been reported by several authors. we have recently demonstrated the presence of unmyelinated sensory nerve fibres (using the pan-neuronal marker pgp9.5) in t...

One of the key factors for successful embryo implantation is the presence of a receptive endometrium. The achievement of a receptive endometrium involves proliferation and thickening of the endometrium, synchronization of the micro architectural changes of the endometrium with the stage of embryo development and the presence of a proper cytokine environment [1]. Despite its complexity, the proc...

Steroid hormone receptor co-factors are abundantly expressed in the uterus in order to modify steroid hormone receptor action, either leading to activation or repression of transcription in the endometrium. However, the role of co-factors in remodelling of the human endometrium has not been established. We therefore endeavoured to evaluate the presence of the co-activator SRC (steroid receptor ...