Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Faculdade de Medicina do ABC, Santo André/SP, Brazil.
Gynecol Endocrinol. 2011 Dec;27(12):1099-102. doi: 10.3109/09513590.2011.569797. Epub 2011 Apr 15.
Estrogens are important factors in the development of endometriosis, and can induce cell proliferation and stimulate cell division. COMT constitutes a crucial element in estrogen metabolism and has been suggested to be involved in the development of endometriosis. This study had the objective of to determine whether the presence of COMT val/met polymorphism (rs4680) increases the risk to endometriosis in infertile patients. A case-control study that included 198 infertile women with endometriosis, 71 infertile women without endometriosis, and 168 fertile women as control group of the Faculdade de Medicina do ABC. COMT (val/met) genotypes were identified by real time PCR (genotyping TaqMan assay) and the results were analyzed statistically by χ² test. The data showed no statistical difference in the distribution of COMT genotypes neither between infertile patients with endometriosis and control group (p = 0.567), regardless disease degree, nor between infertile patients without endometriosis and control group (p = 0.460). In conclusion, the COMT val/met polymorphism is not associated to endometriosis-related infertility in the Brazilian population evaluated. However, more studies in larger populations are necessary to confirm these results.
雌激素是子宫内膜异位症发展的重要因素，能诱导细胞增殖并刺激细胞分裂。COMT 构成了雌激素代谢的关键因素，被认为与子宫内膜异位症的发生有关。本研究旨在确定 COMT val/met 多态性（rs4680）是否会增加不孕患者患子宫内膜异位症的风险。这是一项病例对照研究，包括来自 ABC 医学院的 198 名患有子宫内膜异位症的不孕妇女、71 名无子宫内膜异位症的不孕妇女和 168 名作为对照组的生育妇女。通过实时 PCR（TaqMan 基因分型测定法）确定 COMT（val/met）基因型，并通过卡方检验进行统计学分析。结果显示，无论是在疾病严重程度如何的情况下，患有子宫内膜异位症的不孕患者与对照组之间（p=0.567），还是在没有子宫内膜异位症的不孕患者与对照组之间（p=0.460），COMT 基因型的分布均无统计学差异。总之，在本研究评估的巴西人群中，COMT val/met 多态性与子宫内膜异位症相关的不孕无关。然而，还需要更多的大样本研究来证实这些结果。
