Resumen de Aberrant levels of Wnt/β-catenin pathway components in a rat model of endometriosis
Rômulo Medina Mattos, Paula Rodrigues Pereira, Eliane Gouvêa de Oliveira Barros, Julianna Henriques da Silva, Celia Yelimar Palmero, Nathália Meireles da Costa, Luis Felipe Ribeiro Pinto, Etel Rodrigues Pereira Gimba, Fábio Hecht, Luciana Bueno Ferreira, Daniel Escorsim Machado, Felipe Leite de Oliveira, Luiz Eurico Nasciutti
Endometriosis is a benign gynecological disease affecting approximately 10-15% of women of reproductive age and 25-50% of all infertile women. It is characterized by the presence of glands and/or endometrial stroma outside the uterine cavity. Angiogenesis is a crucial process for the development and maintenance of endometriotic lesions. The Wnt/β-catenin pathway is a major promoter of angiogenesis in both physiological and pathological conditions. In the present study, we evaluated the expression of molecules related to the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in a rat model of peritoneal endometriosis. mRNA analyses showed significantly increased expression of Wnt4 and Wnt7b and decreased expression of Gsk3beta and E-cadherin in endometriotic lesions. However, there were no differences in β-catenin and Fzd2 mRNA expression. In addition, we observed a significant increase of nuclear β-catenin in endometriotic lesions, a hallmark of Wnt/ β -catenin pathway activation. Stromal β-catenin staining was found in 45.4% of endometrial tissues and 77.8% of endometriotic lesions. β-catenin nuclear localization was found in 18.2% of the endometrial tissues and 33.3% of endometriotic lesions. Finally, the expression of galectin-3, a regulator of this pathway, was increased in endometriosis. In summary, this pattern of Wnt/β-catenin components expression suggests an increased activity of this pathway in endometriosis.
