Getsios S, Chen G T, Stephenson M D, Leclerc P, Blaschuk O W, MacCalman C D
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Dev Dyn. 1998 Mar;211(3):238-47. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0177(199803)211:3<238::AID-AJA5>3.0.CO;2-I.
The cadherins are key morphoregulators. A switch in the cadherin subtype(s) expressed by a population of cells has been associated with the differentiation and formation of tissues during embryonic development. To date, the role(s) of the cadherins in the highly regulated remodeling processes which occur in the human endometrium in preparation for the implanting embryo remain poorly characterized. Here we report that two atypical cadherins, known as cadherin-6 and cadherin-11, are spatiotemporally expressed in the human endometrium during the menstrual cycle. Cadherin-6 levels are high in both the glandular epithelium and stroma of the endometrium during the follicular phase and decline as the cycle enters the luteal phase. The down-regulation of cadherin-6 in the glandular epithelium during the luteal phase does not effect the levels of cadherin-11 in this cell type. In contrast, the loss of cadherin-6 expression in endometrial stroma cells is concomitant with an increase in the levels of cadherin-11. Collectively, these observations suggest that multiple factors regulate the expression of these two endometrial cadherins. As a first step in identifying these factors, we examined the effects of progesterone on cadherin-6 and cadherin-11 expression in isolated endometrial stromal cells. Progesterone was capable of differentially regulating the expression of these two stromal cell adhesion molecules. These findings lend further support to our hypothesis that steroids are key regulators of cadherin expression in mammalian tissues.
钙黏着蛋白是关键的形态调节因子。一群细胞所表达的钙黏着蛋白亚型的转换与胚胎发育过程中组织的分化和形成有关。迄今为止，钙黏着蛋白在人类子宫内膜为植入胚胎做准备时发生的高度调控的重塑过程中的作用仍不清楚。在此我们报告，两种非典型钙黏着蛋白，即钙黏着蛋白-6和钙黏着蛋白-11，在月经周期中在人类子宫内膜中呈时空表达。在卵泡期，子宫内膜的腺上皮和基质中钙黏着蛋白-6水平都很高，随着周期进入黄体期而下降。黄体期腺上皮中钙黏着蛋白-6的下调并不影响该细胞类型中钙黏着蛋白-11的水平。相反，子宫内膜基质细胞中钙黏着蛋白-6表达的缺失与钙黏着蛋白-11水平的增加同时发生。总的来说，这些观察结果表明多种因素调节这两种子宫内膜钙黏着蛋白的表达。作为鉴定这些因素的第一步，我们研究了孕酮对分离的子宫内膜基质细胞中钙黏着蛋白-6和钙黏着蛋白-11表达的影响。孕酮能够差异调节这两种基质细胞黏附分子的表达。这些发现进一步支持了我们的假说，即类固醇是哺乳动物组织中钙黏着蛋白表达的关键调节因子。
