Immunoexpression of hepatocyte growth factor and c-Met receptor in the eutopic endometrium predicts the activity of ectopic endometrium

Objective To investigate the mitogenic and angiogenic activity of the eutopic and ectopic endometrium throughout the menstrual cycle and to examine whether the activity of the eutopic endometrium is useful to predict greater activity of the ectopic endometrium. Design Controlled clinicopathologic study using intact tissue. Setting Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Nagasaki, Japan. Patient(s) Fifteen infertile women with pelvic endometriosis and 10 women without endometriosis undergoing laparoscopy. Intervention(s) Biopsies from the ectopic endometrium and the corresponding eutopic endometrium were collected. Immunohistochemical staining was performed using respective antibodies, and a computer analyzed modified quantitative-histogram (Q-H) score was used to quantify immunostaining. Main outcome measure(s) The immunoreactions of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), its receptor, c-Met, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and von Willebrand factor (VWF) in eutopic and ectopic endometrium were examined, and their relation with different revised American Society for Reproductive Medicine (r-ASRM) stages and the morphology of endometriosis was evaluated. Result(s) The immunoexpressions of HGF and c-Met were significantly higher in the eutopic endometrium of patients with endometriosis than in that of controls. The Q-H scores of HGF, c-Met, VEGF, PCNA, and microvessel density (MVD) were markedly higher in red peritoneal lesions when compared with other lesions. The Q-H scores did not reveal r-ASRM stage–dependent variation in any of these markers. We observed a significant correlation between the immunoexpressions of HGF, c-Met, and PCNA or microvessel counts. When we combined the Q-H scores of the glandular epithelium and stroma, we found that increased activity of the eutopic endometrium as measured by the immunoreaction of HGF, c-Met, VEGF, PCNA, and MVD was similar to highly active red lesions and was significantly higher than that of controls and other lesions. Conclusion(s) Immunoexpression of HGF and c-Met in the eutopic endometrium of patients with pelvic endometrioisis is possibly useful to predict greater activity of the ectopic endometrium.