The present study aimed to investigate whether premature rupture of the fetal membrane, combined with subclinical chorioamnionitis, affects pregnancy outcomes. In addition, the association between premature rupture of the fetal membrane (PROM) and the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), an inactive proenzyme that can be activated by other factors or signals in humans, was examined. In total, 80 pregnant patients with PROM were classified into the experimental and control groups, according to their final placental pathological diagnosis results. The 40 patients in the experimental group suffered from subclinical chorioamnionitis, while the 40 patients in the control group exhibited no lesions of the placenta or fetal membrane. Tissue samples were collected and the total protein and mRNA were extracted for western blot and quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses. ELISA was performed in order to detect the levels of MMP-2 in the serum of the two groups of patients. The rates of cesarean section, puerperal infection, postpartum hemorrhage, preterm incidence, placenta accreta, residual placental blood and stillbirth were all significantly higher in the experimental group compared with the control group. In addition, the mRNA and protein expression levels of MMP-2 were reduced in the experimental group compared with the control group. ELISA results indicated that the serum MMP-2 concentrations were also reduced in the patients with PROM. Therefore, the present study demonstrated that the PROM, combined with subclinical chorioamnionitis, significantly affected pregnancy outcomes and was associated with reduced levels of MMP-2.

Abstract. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of taxol, adriamycin and carboplatin (TAC) chemotherapy combined with endocrine medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) therapy for the treatment of patients with endometrial cancer. A retrospective analysis of 124 patients with endometrial cancer was performed by dividing the cohort into an experimental and control group. The 64 patients in the experimental group received TAC and MPA chemotherapy, whereas the 60 patients in the control group were treated with TAC chemotherapy only. Tissue samples scraped from the uterus were used to extract the total proteins and RNAs for the western blot and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses, respectively. All the patients were followed up for 20-45 months, during which time prognostic data, and one-to three-year survival rates were recorded and compared. The rate of recurrence or metastasis was significantly lower in the experimental group compared with that in the control group (P<0.05) and the three-year survival rate of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). Furthermore, the mean metastasis-associated 1 (MTA1) protein and RNA expression levels were significantly lower in the experimental group compared with the control group (P<0.05), exhibiting ~30 and ~15% of the levels in the control group, respectively. Therefore, a treatment strategy of TAC chemotherapy combined with endocrine MPA therapy appears to effectively improve the prognosis and increase the long-term survival rates of patients with endometrial cancer. Such an enhancing effect may be mediated by the transcriptional downregulation of MTA1 expression. IntroductionEndometrial cancer is a common type of malignant gynecological disease that predominantly occurs in post-menopausal females, aged 50-60 years. It accounts for 20-30% of cases of female cancer, with the incidence rate demonstrating an increasing trend in recent years (1). Tumors in endometrial cancer patients at clinical stages I/II exhibit a low degree of differentiation and invasive ability, therefore, good results can be obtained using surgical intervention. By contrast, tumors in patients at stages III/IV exhibit a higher degree of malignancy and differentiation, therefore, surgical treatments are only able to reduce tumor volume. Instead, adjuvant endocrine therapy, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are typically administered for patients at stages III and IV to effectively improve the survival rate (2-4).The taxol, adriamycin and carboplatin (TAC) chemotherapy regimen has gradually been utilized for the treatment of patients with advanced endometrial cancer. Compared with the traditional adriamycin/cisplatin and cyclophosphamide/adriamycin/cisplatin regimens, the effect of the TAC regimen is more pronounced, causing fewer side effects in patients. In particular, TAC exhibits lower hematological toxicity, thus, resulting in more comprehensive treatment and improved recovery for patients (5).Endocrine thera...