Repair of human endometrium after menstruation and preparation of the endometrium for implantation involves profound angiogenic changes. Vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) is a recently identified growth factor with significant angiogenic properties. Four species of mRNA encoding VEGFs were identified in human endometrium and myometrium. All species were present throughout the menst...

The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor of the male and female reproductive tracts whose activity is modulated by coregulator binding. We recently identified melanoma antigen gene protein-11 (MAGE-11) of the MAGEA gene family that functions as an AR coregulator by binding the AR N-terminal FXXLF motif. Here we report that MAGE-11 is expressed in a temporal fashion ...

Epithelial stem/progenitor cells are considered as cancer initiating cells which has been detected in human endometrium, may initiate and progress endometrial carcinoma. Targeting cancer-initiating cells would be necessary to improve cure rates. The relation of endometrial adenocarcinoma and stem cell markers expression has not been reported yet, in spite of ALDH1 expression is frequently alter...

Human endometrium exhibits characteristics of a neuroendocrine-like stress organ in addition to its classical role as the main target of ovarian steroid hormones. Indeed, the epithelial cells of human endometrium express the stress-associated neuropeptide genes corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), proopiomelanocortin, proenkephalin and prodynorphin. Furthermore, endometrium stroma cells also ...

Study of AgNOR has been identified as a reliable indicator of cell proliferation and in turn, allows a clear distinction between benign, premalignant, and malignant epithelial changes. The aim of this study was to analyze and evaluate the application of AgNOR method as diagnostic tool in non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions of endometrium. The study included evaluation of AgNOR staining on a t...

background: endometriosis is a complex estrogen-dependent disease that is defined as the presence of endometrial gland and stroma outside the uterine cavity. although the exact mechanism for the development of endometriosis remains unclear, there is a large body of research data and circumstantial evidence that suggests a crucial role of estrogen in the establishment and maintenance of this dis...

BACKGROUND Several studies have indicated that human pre-implantation embryo-derived chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) may influence the implantation process by its action on human endometrial epithelial and stromal cells. Despite reports indicating that hCG acts on these cells to affect the production of several cytokines and growth factors (e.g., MIF, IGF-I, VEGF, LIF, IL-11, GMCSF, CXL10 and FGF2...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the expression of claudin-3 and claudin-4 in the eutopic and ectopic endometrium of women with endometriosis and to evaluate the role of claudin-3 and claudin-4 in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. DESIGN Cross-sectional measurement of gene expression levels of claudin-3 and claudin-4 on endometriotic tissue. SETTING Academic. PATIENT(S) Thirty-five patients with...

BACKGROUND S100P, a protein originally detected in the human placenta, has been found to play an important role in the development and invasion of tumors. Interestingly, we have recently discovered using data mining that S100P was considerably up-regulated during the window of implantation in the human endometrium, but little further information has been available. METHODS Real-time PCR and i...

BACKGROUND Human endometrium is a highly regenerative tissue. We hypothesized that the source of endometrial stromal and vascular regeneration is a resident stromal stem/progenitor cell population. Putative human endometrial stromal stem/progenitor cells have been identified using clonal assays, a retrospective functional stem cell assay. Therefore, the aim of this study was to screen potential...