Expressionand Significance Of Hepatocyt Growth Factor And Its Receptor C-Met In Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a kind of common gynecologic disease that occurs in menstruating females. Recently the incidence is increasing significantly.Furthermore, dysmenorrhea and infertility from this disease have cerious effect on the women's body and heart, so endometriosis is widely focused.Although there are many hypotheses about the mechanism of endometriosis, the precise etiology and pathophysiologyre still remains unclear.With the rapid development of molecular biology,mang cytokines are considered to play a important role in endometriosis. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a mesenchymal cell-derived polyeffective cytokine that mediates mesenchymal-epithelial interactions,and it has been identified to scatter factor (SF). HGF has powerful mitogenic, motogenic, and morphogenic fuctions. It can induce migration, invasion of epithelial cells and angiogensis. HGF receptor is the c-Met proto-oncogene product,a transmembrane tyrosine kinase that is expressed predominantly on endometrial epithelial cells and endothelial cells.The recent studies show that HGF is secreted by endometrial stromal cells and HGF concentrations elevate in the peritoneal fluid (PF). However,the tissue expressions of HGF and its receptor c-Met in eutopic and ectopic endometrium are yet to be well reported .The aim of this experiment is to compare HGF and c-Met content in eutopic and ectopic endometrium to clarify the role of HGF and c-Met in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Objective:To investigate the role of HGF and c-Met in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. Methods: Immunohistochemistry method and western blot method were used to examine HGF and c-Met protein expression in eutopic endometrium(n=23) and ectopic endometrium(n=23) and normal endometrium of control group(n=17). Results: HGF/c-Met protein was expressed in both glandular epithelium and stroma cells of the three groups. The expression of HGF/c-Met was mainly localized in the cytoplasm. The expression of HGF/c-Met in ectopic and eutopic endometium was higher than that in normal endometium, there was statistically significant difference(P<0.05); but the expression of HGF/cMet protein was similar in the ectopic and eutopic endometrium, there was no statistical difference(P>0.05). The expression of HGF/c-Met was similar between the proliferative and secretory stages of the endometrium ((P >0.05). The noticeable positive correlation was found between HGF and c-Met in the three groups. Conclusion: The expression of HGF/c-Met are correlated with the pathogenesis of endometriosis. It's a key of the changes in the biological behavior of eutopic endometrium, the expression of HGF /c-Met in the eutopic endometrium is possibly useful to predict greater activity of the ectopic endometrium.