PARENT SESSION
FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT - B

Wednesday, August 4, 2004
10:30 AM–12:30 PM
Buchanan Courtyard

(815) ABERRANT EXPRESSION PATTERN OF CYR61 IN ENDOMETRIOTIC ENDOMETRIA OF HUMAN AND BABOONS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY.

Gashaw, Isabella¹, Absenger, Yvonne ¹, Schmidt, Markus ², Fazleabas, Asgerally T. ³, Winterhager, Elke ¹, ¹ Anatomy, Essen, Germany² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Essen, Germany³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chicago, IL

ABSTRACT- Objective: CYR61 (cysteine rich 61, CNN1), a member of the CCN family of growth regulators, is a proangiogenic factor that mediates diverse roles in development, cell proliferation, and tumorigenesis. Here, we investigated the expression pattern of CYR61 in normal and endometriotic endometria and ectopic lesions. Methods: Tissues: eutopic normal and endometriotic endometria as well as ectopic lesion of cycling women and baboons with induced endometriosis. CYR61 mRNA was investigated applying real time RT-PCR. The protein expression in the endometrium was studied using immunohistochemistry on paraffin sections with DAB labeling and western blotting. Results: In human eutopic endometrium, CYR61 mRNA undergoes cyclic dependent variations in expression and shows strongest levels in proliferative phase indicating an estrogen mediate regulation. CYR61 was up-regulated in endometria of women with endometriosis 3.2 (SD 3.7) and 5.1-fold (SD 5.4) in proliferative (n=15) and secretory phase (n=10), respectively. CYR61 mRNA was extensively up-regulated in ectopic endometrial lesions, independent from the phase of the menstrual cycle. The protein is produced in epithelial cells of human endometrial glandular and luminal epithelium and is secreted into lumen. In the endometriotic lesions CYR61 expression is still found in the glandular uterine epithelial cells. Like in humans, in baboons CYR61 mRNA was up-regulated in eutopic endometria during endometriosis and in the endometriotic lesions. Furthermore the endometria of baboons with and without induced endometriosis revealed a similar expression pattern of CYR61 protein in the uterine epithelial cells Conclusion: CYR61 may play a role in the development of endometriosis in humans and baboons and the baboons serve as an appropriate animal model to investigate the regulation and function of the proangiogenic factor.

KEY WORDS: human, CYR61, Endometriosis, baboon