Increased expression of antimüllerian hormone and its receptor in endometriosis

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate antim€ ullerian hormone (AMH) and AMH receptor II (AMHRII) mRNA and protein expression in endometrium and in ovarian or deep lesions of women with endometriosis. Design: Prospective study. Setting: University hospitals in Italy and Brazil. Patients: Patients with endometriosis (n ¼ 55) and healthy women (n ¼ 45). Interventions: Specimens of endometrium obtained by hysteroscopy from patients with endometriosis and from healthy control subjects; specimens of ovarian endometriosis (n ¼ 29) or of deep endometriosis (n ¼ 26) were collected by laparoscopy. Serum samples were collected in some endometriotic patients (n ¼ 23) and healthy control subjects (n ¼ 20). Main Outcome Measure(s): AMH and AMHRII mRNA levels were evaluated by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and protein localization by immunohistochemistry. AMH levels in tissue homogenates and in serum were assessed by ELISA. Result(s): Endometrium from women with endometriosis showed higher AMH and AMHRII mRNA levels than control women, with no significant differences between proliferative and secretory phases. Specimens collected from ovarian or deep endometriosis showed the highest AMH and AMHRII mRNA expression. Immunolocalization study confirmed the high AMH and AMHRII protein expression in endometriotic lesions. No difference of serum AMH levels between the groups was found. Conclusion(s):The increased AMH and AMHRII mRNA and protein expression in endometrium and in endometriotic lesions suggests a possible involvement of AMH in endometriosis.

A Tissue Specific Magnetic Resonance Contrast Agent, Gd‐AMH, for Diagnosis of Stromal Endometriosis Lesions: A Phase I Study

“…In addition, moderate expression levels were observed in both simple and stratified epithelia in all the organs examined in our study. Finally, high expression levels for AMH were detected in the female genital system and especially in endometriosis lesions, confirming previous observations (Signorile et al, ; Carrarelli et al, ). These data suggest that AMH is probably involved in the maintenance of a differentiated cell state in some tissues such as muscles and epithelia.…”

“…Considering the very low toxicity of said substance in the human body, the possibility of AMH as an anti‐cancer drug is of great clinical interest. Recent studies have demonstrated that AMH, as well as MISRII (one of its receptors), is expressed in the endometrium and endometriosis lesions, where it probably acts as a paracrine signal and negatively regulates cellular viability in the endometrium (Shebl et al, ; Wang et al, ; Namkung et al, ; Carrarelli et al, ; Signorile et al, ).…”

Anti-Müllerian Hormone in Peritoneal Fluid and Plasma From Women With and Without Endometriosis

“…8 One recent study found higher AMH and AMH receptor II messenger RNA and protein expression in uterine endometrial tissue from women with endometriosis versus control women and even higher AMH expression in excised endometriotic lesions than in the endometrium. 22 Although the researchers did not measure peritoneal fluid AMH, it is possible that AMH remains concentrated in the endometriotic lesions and not secreted into the peritoneal fluid. This is supported by the findings that the serum AMH was the same between study participants with and without endometriosis.…”

The role of TGFβsuperfamily members in the pathophysiology of endometriosis

“…However, both the hormone and its specific receptor are increased in the eutopic endometrium of women with endometriosis, and further increased in ovarian and deep endometriotic lesions [60]. AMH may have a protective effect against the progression of endometriosis, as suggested by in vitro evidence that AMH inhibits proliferation and stimulates apoptosis in primary cultures of stromal cells obtained from ovarian endometrioma [61].…”