Aalto Anu, Huotari-Orava Riitta, Luhtala Satu, Mäenpää Johanna, Staff Synnöve
Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kanta-Häme Central Hospital, Hämeenlinna, Finland.
Biores Open Access. 2020 Feb 21;9(1):13-21. doi: 10.1089/biores.2019.0049. eCollection 2020.
Eight percent of women suffer from vulvodynia, a chronic pain condition with unknown etiology. Inflammation and dysregulation of estrogen signaling have been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of localized provoked vulvodynia (LPV). Therefore, the aim of the study was to analyze protein expression levels of estrogen-related receptors ERRα, ERRß, ERRγ, estrogen receptor (ERα), and progesterone receptor (PRα) and CD3-positive T cells in the vulvar vestibulum obtained from women suffering from LPV in comparison to healthy, unaffected controls. Vulvar vestibulum tissue specimens were obtained from LPV patients ( = 12) who had undergone modified posterior vestibulectomy and from 15 healthy controls. Protein expression of ERRα, ERRß, ERRγ, ERα, and PRα and CD3-positive T cells was analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Expression of ERRß was significantly more pronounced in samples from LPV compared to healthy controls ( = 0.006). No significant difference in the expression patterns of ERRα, ERRγ, ERα, PRα, or CD3 cells was detected. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting ERR expression in normal vestibulum and in vestibulectomy samples from LPV patients. The higher level of ERRß expression detected by IHC may reflect dysregulation of estrogen signaling in LPV.
8%的女性患有外阴痛，这是一种病因不明的慢性疼痛疾病。炎症和雌激素信号失调被认为在局限性激发性外阴痛（LPV）的发病机制中起作用。因此，本研究的目的是分析与雌激素相关的受体ERRα、ERRß、ERRγ、雌激素受体（ERα）和孕激素受体（PRα）以及CD3阳性T细胞在LPV女性的外阴前庭中的蛋白表达水平，并与健康未受影响的对照组进行比较。从接受改良后前庭切除术的LPV患者（n = 12）和15名健康对照者获取外阴前庭组织标本。通过免疫组织化学（IHC）分析ERRα、ERRß、ERRγ、ERα和PRα以及CD3阳性T细胞的蛋白表达。与健康对照相比，ERRß在LPV样本中的表达明显更显著（P = 0.006）。未检测到ERRα、ERRγ、ERα、PRα或CD3细胞表达模式的显著差异。据我们所知，这是第一项报道正常前庭和LPV患者前庭切除样本中ERR表达的研究。通过IHC检测到的ERRß较高表达水平可能反映了LPV中雌激素信号的失调。
