The Study Of Epidermal Growth Factor And Its Receptor In The Pathogenesis Of Uterine Leiomyomas

Objective To determine the levels of epidermal growth factor(EGF) and its receptor(EGFR), estrogen receptor(ER) and progesterone receptor (PR)in the uterine leiomyoma and adjacent normal myometrium and study the role of epidermal growth factor and its receptor in the pathogenesis of uterine leiomyoma.Methods 40 women with leiomyoma undergoing hysterectomy were studied. Levels of EGF, EGFR, ER and PR of the uterine leiomyoma and adjacent normal myometrium were measured by flow cymetry method and immunohistochemistry. Results 1. The results of immunohistochemistry: (l) The expression of EGF and EGFR was observed in both leiomyoma and adjacent normal myometrium, only the degree was different. EGF stains localized mainly in the plasma and EGFR stains localized mainly in the cell membrance. The expression of EGF and EGFR in the leiomyoma is stronger than that in the adiacent normal myometrium(P<0. 05) ; (2) The expression of ER and PR was observed in the nucleus in both tissues, and their expression level in leiomyma was higher than that in adjacent normal myometrium(P<0. 01). 2. The results of flow cytometry: (1) The levels of EGF and EGFR in the leiomyoma(8.134 ± 1. 34, 8.31 ± 1.365) were higher than those in the adjacent normal myometrium (6. 3 ± 1. 26, 5.53± 0.22) , P<0. 05; The ER and PR levels (5.324±0.455, 6.813 ±0.522) in the leiomyoma were significantly higher than those in adjacent normal myometrium (4.51 ±0.15, 5. 76±0. 27), P<0. 01; (2) during secretive phase , The levelof EGF in the leiomyoma (10.21±0.23) was significantly high compared with those in the normal myometrium (6. 91 ±0. 15) (P<0. 01) ; but there were no differenceduring proliferative phase (P>0. 05) ; The level of EGF was related to the level of PR in leiomyoma (r=0. 71, P<0. 01) , but was not related to ER( r=O. 27, P>0.05); (3) the level of EGFR in leiomyoma (9. 28?. 59) in proliferative phase was significantly higher than those in normal myometrium(5. 4 ± 0. 20), P<0.01; there were no difference in two tissues during secretive phase; the level of EGFR in leiomyoma was related to that of ER (r = 0. 65, P<0. 01) and was no relation to PR(r=0. 32, P>0. 05).Conclusion 1. Uterine leiomyoma had the capacity of secretion EGF and EGFR , their overexpression in the uterine leiomyoma showed EGF and EGFR may play important role in the pathogenesis of uterine leiomyoma. (2) Their levels in leiomyoma were related to the menstruation period; in leiomyoma, the level of EGF in leiomyoma was related to the level of PR, but the level of EGFR in leiomyoma were related to that of ER. The results suggest EGFproduction may be regulated directly by progesterone and estrogen may controlthe prduction of EGFR.Qian jinhua (Obstetrics and Gynecology) Directed by Professor Guo xinhua...