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Expression of nodal signalling components in cycling human endometrium and in endometrial cancer

BACKGROUND: The human endometrium is unique in its capacity to remodel constantly throughout adult reproductive life. Although the processes of tissue damage and breakdown in the endometrium have been well studied, little is known of how endometrial regeneration is achieved after menstruation. Nodal...

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Autores principales: Papageorgiou, Irene, Nicholls, Peter K, Wang, Fang, Lackmann, Martin, Makanji, Yogeshwar, Salamonsen, Lois A, Robertson, David M, Harrison, Craig A
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2774317/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19874624
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1477-7827-7-122
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author Papageorgiou, Irene
Nicholls, Peter K
Wang, Fang
Lackmann, Martin
Makanji, Yogeshwar
Salamonsen, Lois A
Robertson, David M
Harrison, Craig A
author_facet Papageorgiou, Irene
Nicholls, Peter K
Wang, Fang
Lackmann, Martin
Makanji, Yogeshwar
Salamonsen, Lois A
Robertson, David M
Harrison, Craig A
author_sort Papageorgiou, Irene
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The human endometrium is unique in its capacity to remodel constantly throughout adult reproductive life. Although the processes of tissue damage and breakdown in the endometrium have been well studied, little is known of how endometrial regeneration is achieved after menstruation. Nodal, a member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily, regulates the processes of pattern formation and differentiation that occur during early embryo development. METHODS: In this study, the expression of Nodal, Cripto (co-receptor) and Lefty A (antagonist) was examined by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry across the menstrual cycle and in endometrial carcinomas. RESULTS: Nodal and Cripto were found to be expressed at high levels in both stromal and epithelial cells during the proliferative phase of the menstrual cycle. Although immunoreactivity for both proteins in surface and glandular epithelium was maintained at relatively steady-state levels across the cycle, their expression was significantly decreased within the stromal compartment by the mid-secretory phase. Lefty expression, as has previously been reported, was primarily restricted to glandular epithelium and surrounding stroma during the late secretory and menstrual phases. In line with recent studies that have shown that Nodal pathway activity is upregulated in many human cancers, we found that Nodal and Cripto immunoreactivity increased dramatically in the transition from histologic Grade 1 to histologic Grades 2 and 3 endometrial carcinomas. Strikingly, Lefty expression was low or absent in all cancer tissues. CONCLUSION: The expression of Nodal in normal and malignant endometrial cells that lack Lefty strongly supports an important role for this embryonic morphogen in the tissue remodelling events that occur across the menstrual cycle and in tumourogenesis.
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spelling pubmed-27743172009-11-07 Expression of nodal signalling components in cycling human endometrium and in endometrial cancer Papageorgiou, Irene Nicholls, Peter K Wang, Fang Lackmann, Martin Makanji, Yogeshwar Salamonsen, Lois A Robertson, David M Harrison, Craig A Reprod Biol Endocrinol Research BACKGROUND: The human endometrium is unique in its capacity to remodel constantly throughout adult reproductive life. Although the processes of tissue damage and breakdown in the endometrium have been well studied, little is known of how endometrial regeneration is achieved after menstruation. Nodal, a member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily, regulates the processes of pattern formation and differentiation that occur during early embryo development. METHODS: In this study, the expression of Nodal, Cripto (co-receptor) and Lefty A (antagonist) was examined by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry across the menstrual cycle and in endometrial carcinomas. RESULTS: Nodal and Cripto were found to be expressed at high levels in both stromal and epithelial cells during the proliferative phase of the menstrual cycle. Although immunoreactivity for both proteins in surface and glandular epithelium was maintained at relatively steady-state levels across the cycle, their expression was significantly decreased within the stromal compartment by the mid-secretory phase. Lefty expression, as has previously been reported, was primarily restricted to glandular epithelium and surrounding stroma during the late secretory and menstrual phases. In line with recent studies that have shown that Nodal pathway activity is upregulated in many human cancers, we found that Nodal and Cripto immunoreactivity increased dramatically in the transition from histologic Grade 1 to histologic Grades 2 and 3 endometrial carcinomas. Strikingly, Lefty expression was low or absent in all cancer tissues. CONCLUSION: The expression of Nodal in normal and malignant endometrial cells that lack Lefty strongly supports an important role for this embryonic morphogen in the tissue remodelling events that occur across the menstrual cycle and in tumourogenesis. BioMed Central 2009-10-29 /pmc/articles/PMC2774317/ /pubmed/19874624 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1477-7827-7-122 Text en Copyright © 2009 Papageorgiou et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Papageorgiou, Irene
Nicholls, Peter K
Wang, Fang
Lackmann, Martin
Makanji, Yogeshwar
Salamonsen, Lois A
Robertson, David M
Harrison, Craig A
Expression of nodal signalling components in cycling human endometrium and in endometrial cancer
title Expression of nodal signalling components in cycling human endometrium and in endometrial cancer
title_full Expression of nodal signalling components in cycling human endometrium and in endometrial cancer
title_fullStr Expression of nodal signalling components in cycling human endometrium and in endometrial cancer
title_full_unstemmed Expression of nodal signalling components in cycling human endometrium and in endometrial cancer
title_short Expression of nodal signalling components in cycling human endometrium and in endometrial cancer
title_sort expression of nodal signalling components in cycling human endometrium and in endometrial cancer
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2774317/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19874624
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1477-7827-7-122
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