INCREASED EXPRESSION OF MONOCYTE CHEMOTACTIC PROTEIN-1 IN THE ENDOMETRIUM OF WOMEN WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS

The pathogenesis of endometriosis, a disease widely believed to arise from an aberrant growth of endometrial tissue outside the uterus, is s till unclear. We have previously observed that cytokine-stimulated end ometrial cells of women with endometriosis secrete in vitro increased amounts of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1). This factor may be important in the recruitment and activation of peritoneal macrophages observed in endometriosis patients. The present study reports that, in the presence of th-disease, such an upregulation of MCP-1 expression arises in vivo and can be encountered in situ in the intrauterine endo metrium. In women with endometriosis, MCP-1 expression was elevated in endometrial glands, bath at the level of the protein (immunohistochem istry) and the mRNA (in situ hybridization). This was observed through out the menstrual cycle and varied according to the stage of the disea se. These findings strongly argue in favor of the presence of pathophy siological changes in the eutopic endometrium of patients with endomet riosis and make plausible MCP-1 as a key effector cell mediator involv ed in the pathogenesis of the disease.