Abnormal expression of estrogen receptor is associated with thin endometrium

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the association of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expressions with thin endometrium. Patients with endometrial thickness of less than 7 mm were classified as the study group, while the control group was comprised of patients with endometrial thickness of 7 to 14 mm. The expressions of ER and PR were detected with semi-quantitative immunohistochemical analysis, and the differences were compared between the two groups. The expression of ER was significantly decreased (p < .05) in the stromal cells of thin endometrium during both proliferative and secretory phases as compared to those of normal endometrium. Likewise, ER expression was found to be lower in the glandular cells of thin endometrium than those of normal endometrium during proliferative phase. However, no significant differences were observed for the expression of PR in both glandular and stromal cells between the two groups. Thin endometrium was associated with reduced expression of ER in stromal cells both during proliferative and secretory phase, but in glandular epithelial cells only during proliferative phase.

摘要：

本研究旨在探讨雌激素受体(ER)和孕激素受体(PR)表达与子宫内膜厚度的关系。将子宫内膜厚度小于7mm的患者纳入研究组, 对照组为子宫内膜厚度为7 ∼ 14mm的患者。用半定量免疫组化分析来检测ER和PR的表达, 并比较两组间的差异。与正常子宫内膜组相比, 研究组的患者增殖期和分泌期子宫内膜中基质细胞ER表达均明显降低(p<.05)。同样, 在增殖期, 研究组中子宫内膜的腺细胞ER的表达低于对照组。但两组间腺细胞和基质细胞PR表达无明显差异。子宫内膜薄的患者在增殖期和分泌期中基质细胞ER表达降低, 而腺上皮细胞仅在增殖期ER表达降低。

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:

• Thin endometrium
• estrogen receptor
• progesterone receptor
• stromal cell
• glandular epithelial cell

Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to all the patients and volunteers who have participated in our study, and the support from the Reproductive Medicine Hospital of the First Hospital of Lanzhou University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Gansu Health Industry project under Grant [GSWSKY-2015-47].