Semi-quantitative analysis of HOXA11, leukemia inhibitory factor and basic transcriptional element binding protein 1 mRNA expression in the mid-secretory endometrium of patients with endometriosis.

BACKGROUND

HOXA11 and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and basic transcriptional element binding protein1 (BTEB1) are expressed in endometrium throughout the menstrual cycle and show a dramatic increase during the mid-luteal phase at the time of implantation. In this case-control study, the expression pattern of these mRNA was evaluated in patients with endometriosis at the time of implantation. We also describe a semi-quantitative RT-PCR protocol optimized in our laboratory.

METHODS

Eight patients with endometriosis were considered as our case and 8 fertile women as control group. Expression levels of HOXA11, LIF and BTEB1 mRNA were measured in endometrium during the mid-secretory phase using semi-quantitative RT-PCR.

RESULTS

We describe the detailed procedure for the analysis of HOXA11, LIF and BTEB1 mRNA levels. Endometrial HOXA11 and LIF mRNA expression levels (normalized to beta-actin expression) were significantly decreased in endometrium of infertile patients with endometriosis compared with healthy fertile controls at the time of implantation (P < 0.05). A similar trend was seen in BTEB1 mRNA expression.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that the alteration in expression pattern of the some genes could account for some aspects of infertility in endometriosis.