Increased Proliferating Activity of Endometrium in Endometriosis.

Kim, Young Ah; Kim, Mi Ran; Park, Dong Wook; Ahn, Sung Hee; Hwang, Kyung Joo; Chang, Doo Young; Lee, Eung Soo

Original Article

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2004;47(7):1334-1341.
Published online July 1, 2004.

Increased Proliferating Activity of Endometrium in Endometriosis.

Young Ah Kim, Mi Ran Kim, Dong Wook Park, Sung Hee Ahn, Kyung Joo Hwang, Doo Young Chang, Eung Soo Lee

¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University, Ilsan, Korea.
²Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea.
³Department of Molecular Science and Technology, Graduate School of Medicine, Ajou University, Suwon, Korea.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
We investigated the expression of Ki-67, NF-kappa B, and COX-2 in endometrial tissue, and the incidence of polyps by hysteroscopic biopsy with or without endometriosis. METHODS: The study group was 92 patients with endometriosis and the control group was 90 patients without endometriosis. The subjects were 20 samples. The 10 samples consisted of eutopic endometrium with endometriosis. The control subjects were 10 samples of normal endometrium. Expression of Ki-67, NF-kappa B, and COX-2 was immunohistochemically investigated by polyclonal antibody. RESULTS: Endometrial polyps were found in 53 of 92 (57.6%) women with endometriosis but only in 15 of 90 (16.7%) women without endometriosis. High expression of Ki-67 was shown in eutopic endometrium with endometriosis. The expression of NF-kappa B and COX-2 was increased in eutopic endometrium with endometriosis, but normal endometrium showed lower expression. CONCLUSION: The increase of endometrial polyps and hyperexpression of NF-kappa B, COX-2, Ki-67 could explain that proliferation activity of eutopic endometrium with endometriosis is increased.

Key Words: Endometriosis, NF-kappa B, COX-2, Ki-67, Endometrial polyp