Objective To define the altered gene expression profile of endometriotic lesions in a mouse model of surgically-induced endometriosis Design Autologous experimental mouse model. Setting Medical school department. Animals Adult C57Bl6 mice. Intervention(s) Endometriosis was surgically-induced by auto-transplantation of uterine tissue to the intestinal mesentery. Endometriotic lesions and eutopic uteri were recovered at 3 or 29 days post-induction. Main Outcome Measure(s) Altered gene expression was measured in the endometriotic lesion relative to the eutopic uterus by genome wide cDNA microarray analysis and was confirmed by real time RT-PCR for six genes. Relevant categories of altered genes were identified using gene ontology analysis to determine groups of genes enriched for altered expression. Result(s) The expression of 479 and 114 genes was altered in the endometriotic lesion compared to the eutopic uterus at 3 or 29 days post-induction, respectively. Gene ontology enrichment analysis revealed that genes associated with the extracellular matrix, cell adhesions, immune function, cell growth, and angiogenesis were altered in the endometriotic lesion compared to the eutopic uterus. Conclusion(s) Based on gene expression analysis, the mouse model of surgically-induced endometriosis appears to be a good model for studying the pathophysiology and treatment of endometriosis.

Estrogens regulate gene expression and cell proliferation in target tissues. In studies of estrogen-regulated gene expression, identification of appropriate housekeeping genes (HKGs), reference genes whose expression is not altered by treatment, is difficult. The goal of this study was to define HKGs unaltered by estrogen in the mouse uterus. Ovariectomized C57BL6 mice were dosed with 20 micrograms/kg ethinylestradiol and the uterus was collected at 6, 24, and 72 h later to bracket the biphasic time course of estrogen action in the rodent uterus. RNA was isolated, cDNA synthesized and equal amounts of cDNA were added to real-time PCR reactions. The expression of seven out of nine putative HKGs was altered by estrogen in the mouse uterus. Estrogen induced four gene expression profiles, expression of: (1) Actb and Hsp90ab1 were up-regulated early, (2) B2m and Gusb were up-regulated late, (3) Gapdh, Hprt1, and Ppia were up regulated at all time points, and (4) Rpl13a and 18srRNA were unaltered. This highlights the need to empirically determine the appropriate HKG for each experimental condition. Based on these results, we suggest using Rpl13a or 18srRNA as HKGs for xenoestrogen studies in the mouse uterus and as good candidates to test under different experimental conditions.

Background: In a university hospital setting, a 25-year-old woman presented with large vaginal and cervical polyps. Past medical history was significant for stage IV endometriosis. Polypectomy was performed and the polyps were histologically consistent with endometriosis. Gene expression was compared with control vaginal tissue to assess if the altered gene expression profile was similar to peritoneal endometriosis. Methods and Results: Using quantitative reverse transcription, real-time PCR, estrogen receptor-β expression was found to be upregulated 10-fold while estrogen receptor-α expression was downregulated 5-fold in the vaginal polyp relative to control vaginal tissue. The estrogen-synthesizing enzyme aromatase was upregulated 8-fold and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase was upregulated 400-fold in the polyp. Immunohistochemical staining revealed altered cell type localization for progesterone receptor in the polyp and increased cell proliferation in polyp stromal cells relative to control. Conclusions: Increased proliferation in the vaginal polypoid endometriotic tissue may be due to increased local estrogen production. The altered gene expression profile was very similar to the altered gene expression profile seen in peritoneal endometriosis.