Semi-Quantitative Analysis of HOXA11, Leukemia Inhibitory Factor and Basic Transcriptional Element Binding Protein 1 mRNA Expression in the Mid-Secretory Endometrium of Patients with Endometriosis

HOXA11 and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and basic transcriptional element binding protein1 (BTEB1) are expressed in endometrium throughout the menstrual cycle and show a dramatic increase during the mid-luteal phase at the time of implantation. In this case-control study, the expression pattern of these mRNA was evaluated in patients with endometriosis at the time of implantation. We also describe a semi-quantitative RT-PCR protocol optimized in our laboratory. Eight patients with endometriosis were considered as our case and 8 fertile women as control group. Expression levels of HOXA11, LIF and BTEB1 mRNA were measured in endometrium during the mid-secretory phase using semi-quantitative RT-PCR. We describe the detailed procedure for the analysis of HOXA11, LIF and BTEB1 mRNA levels. Endometrial HOXA11 and LIF mRNA expression levels (normalized to ß-actin expression) were significantly decreased in endometrium of infertile patients with endometriosis compared with healthy fertile controls at the time of implantation (P<0.05). A similar trend was seen in BTEB1 mRNA expression. The results suggest that the alteration in expression pattern of the some genes could account for some aspects of infertility in endometriosis