Expression of adrenomedullin in the endometrium of the human uterus

Objective: Our purpose was to determine whether adrenomedullin is present i n the human uterus. Methods: We obtained specimens from five patients with leiomyoma and four p atients with endometrial adenocarcinoma who were undergoing abdominal hyste rectomy. Tissue sections were stained with antibody against adrenomedullin using an avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex technique. Total RNA from normal and cancerous endometrium, myometrium, and leiomyoma was prepared and analy zed by northern blot methodology. Results: Sections stained with an antibody to adrenomedullin showed promine nt expression of adrenomedullin in the normal and cancerous endometrial epi thelial cells. Northern blot analysis showed that normal and cancerous endo metrium expressed the messenger RNA (mRNA) for adrenomedullin and that the size of the mRNA transcript was 1.6 kilobases (kb). No significant differen ce was observed between the abundance of mRNA in normal and cancerous endom etrium. Conclusion: The findings in this study demonstrated that both adrenomedulli n protein and mRNA are present in normal and carcinomatous endometrium of t he human uterus. (C) 1999 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gyne cologists.