Protein expression pattern of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-3 (TIMP3) in endometriosis and normal endometrium

Abstract

Given the involvement of different extracellular matrix (ECM) metalloproteinases (MMPs) in endometriosis, the protein expression pattern of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-3 (TIMP3) was analyzed in this study in endometriosis and normal endometrium. Tissue samples were collected prospectively from 64 premenopausal patients undergoing operative laparoscopy. Protein expression of TIMP3 was analyzed immunohistochemically in endometriotic lesions (n = 30) and normal eutopic endometrium from patients with (n = 35) and without (n = 29) endometriosis. Comparison between the three different groups of tissue samples showed that TIMP3 was differentially expressed between the three groups (p = .04). Pair-wise comparisons showed that TIMP3 expression was lower in endometriotic lesions as compared with normal eutopic endometrium from controls (p = .006); the same non-significant trend was found, in the comparison between endometriosis lesions and matched eutopic endometrium. There were no differences in TIMP3 expression in the normal eutopic endometrium between patients with and without endometriosis. In conclusion, TIMP3 seems to be involved in the pathogenesis, pathophysiology, and maintenance of endometriosis and it might be useful as a diagnostic and prognostic marker of endometriosis. Future studies should further investigate this issue, as well as the interplay between TIMPs and different extracellular MMPs in endometriosis.

摘要

考虑到不同细胞外基质（ECM）金属蛋白酶（MMPs）在子宫内膜异位症中的作用, 本研究分析了组织金属蛋白酶抑制剂（TIMP3）蛋白在子宫内膜异位症和正常子宫内膜中的表达模式。前瞻性收集64例绝经前患者行腹腔镜手术的组织样本。免疫组织化学方法分析子宫内膜异位病变（n=30）和正常在位子宫内膜（n=35）和未异位子宫内膜（n=29）患者的蛋白表达。比较三个不同组的组织样本表明, TIMP3三组之间的表达有差异（p=.04）。两两比较显示, 与正常子宫内膜相比, 子宫内膜异位病变中TIMP3的表达较低（p= .006）。在子宫内膜异位病变与在位子宫内膜的比较中, 也发现了同样的非显著趋势。有无子宫内膜异位症患者的正常子宫内膜异位的TIMP3表达无差异。总之, TIMP3似乎参与了子宫内膜异位症的发病机制、病理生理学和病情维持, 它可能是子宫内膜异位症的诊断和预后标志物。未来的研究应该进一步探讨这个问题, 以及TIMPs和不同细胞外基质在子宫内膜异位症中的相互作用。

The Chinese abstracts are translated by Prof. Dr. Xiangyan Ruan and her team: Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100026, China.

Keywords:

• Endometriosis
• tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-3
• TIMP3
• extracellular matrix metalloproteinases
• eutopic endometrium

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest. Study sponsors had no involvement in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in the writing of the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Grant [84141] of the Research Committee of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.