The Expression And Significance Of β-catenin And MMP-7 In Endometriosis

Objective:The objective of the present study was to investigate the expression and the relativity ofβ-catenin and matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) in endometriosis and to expand our understanding of the roles ofβ-catenin and MMP-7 in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.Methods:We performed an immunohistochemistry study to detect the expression levels ofβ-catenin and MMP-7 protein in the ectopic endometrium of 30 cases (ectopic endometrium group), in the eutopic endometrium of 24 cases (eutopic endometrium group) with endometriosis and in the normal endometrium of 24 cases without endometriosis (control group). The results were tested by SPSS software 17.0 for statistical analysis.Results:The abnormal expression ofβ-catenin in in ectopic and eutopic endometrium groups were significantly higher than that in control group(p=0.019<0.05; p=0.039<0.05). The abnormal expression ofβ-catenin in proliferative phase was significantly higher than that in secretory phase (p=0.024<0.05).The MMP-7 protein in ectopic and eutopic endometrium groups with mild and strong positive expression mainly, the control group with negative and weak positive expression. The positive expression of MMP-7 in endometriotic group was significantly higher than that in control group(p=0.002<0.05; p=0.043<0.05). The positive expression of MMP-7 in proliferative phase was significantly higher than that in secretory phase (p=0.024<0.05).There was significant positive relativity between the expression ofβ-catenin and MMP-7(rs=0.587,p=0.001<0.05; rs=0.505, p=0.012<0.05).Conclusions:1. We suggest that the abnormal expression levels ofβ-catenin and MMP-7 protein of patients with endometriosis may play a role in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.2. The abnormal expression ofβ-catenin was shown to be significantly correlated to the positive expression of MMP-7 in endometriosis which suggested they may play a synergistic effect in the pathogenesis of endometriosis.