The Expression Of MMP-12 In Endometriosis And The Regulation Of EGF On MMP-12 In A431 Cells

Objective: Endometriosis and tumor are both frequently encountered diseases on clinic. Endometriosis is a pathogenic dislocation caused by the implantation and growth of the normal endometrial tissue outside of the uterine cavity. It can cause abdominal pain, and dysmenorrhoea of menstruating women, as well as infertility. The metastasis of tumor is a main reason causing the death of patients. Although endometriosis is a innocence illness, it processes some characters of tumor. The co-character of these two diseases is to degrade the extracellular matrix (ECM) in the process of invasion. The MMPs (matrix metalloproteinase) family is a group of structurally related proteins that degrades ECM components, and expresses highly in many invasive and metastatic cancer cells, such as recurred lung cancer and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Therefore, MMPs expressed in cancer cells causing invasion and metastasis may be also expressed in ectopic endometrial cells in their course of forming endometriosis. Some researches demonstrated that many MMPs, such as MMP-2 and MMP-9 were increased in ectopic endometrium and tumor cells.The purpose of this study is to compare the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-12 (MMP-12) in ectopic endometrium, then, to find the relation between MMP-12 and the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is an major member in the growth factor familiy. It can stimulates cells cleavage, and has a close relationship with tumor's genesis and metastasis. To investigate the effects of EGF on MMP-12 in human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells, we treated A431 cells with different concentation of EGF to observe the changes of MMP-12's expression.