Biomedical Research

Objective: To detect the expression of somatostatin (SS) gene and somatostatin receptor (SSTR) 1-5 gene in endormetrotic tissues.

Methods: Real-Time PCR was applied to examine the expression of somatostatin gene in ectopic endometrial cells (EECs). The expression of somatostatin receptor 1-5 in ectopic endometrium, eutopic endometrium and normal endometrium and the relations with endometriosis (EMS) staging were determined by immunohistochemistry.

Results: The expression of SS gene in EECs was significantly higher compared with the control group. SSTR1-5 were expressed in the ectopic endormetrotic tissues from 30 patients with EMS, and the positive rates were 43.3%, 70%, 53.3%, 50% and 96.7%, respectively, which were not closely associated with EMS staging of the patients. The positive rates of SSTR1-5 expressions in the eutopic endometrium from 14 patients with EMS were 33.3%, 41.7%, 53.3%, 58.3% and 83.3%, respectively; while, the positive rates of SSTR1-5 expressions in the normal endometrium from 14 women without EMS were 7.1%, 7.1%, 21.4%, 28.6% and 64.3%, which were lower than the positive rates of SSTR1-5 both in the endormetrotic tissues and the eutopic endometrium.

Conclusions: SS gene was highly expressed in EECs. SSTR1-5 were expressed both in the ectopic and eutopic endometrium, the low or moderate expression of SSTR1-4 and the high expression of SSTR5 were detected in the ectopic and eutopic endometric tissues, and the low expression of SSTR1-4 and the partial expression of SSTR5 were detected in the normal endometrium. The positive rates of expression of SSTR1-5 in the endormetrotic and eutopic endometrium were higher than those in the normal endometrium. The expression of all the subtypes of SSTR in the ectopic endormetrotic tissues was not closely associated with EMS staging.

Author(s): Hou Ping, Chen Long, Liu Hong, Zhang Weina, Liu Yansheng
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