Endometrial E-cadgerin Expression in Women with Reproductive Dysfunctions and Healthy Fertile Women with Ovulatory Menstrual Cycle

Background . E-cadherin is known as one of the endometrial receptivity biomarkers. Objective : to conduct a comparative analysis of the endometrial E-cadherin expression in healthy fertile women and patients with reproductive dysfunctions with the ovulatory menstrual cycle. Design and methods . The main group consisted of patients with infertility (n = 81) and early pregnancy loss (n = 40), the control group — of 16 healthy fertile women. All subjects underwent endometrial biopsy and venipuncture to receive peripheral blood sample (to determine estradiol and progesterone levels) at 6–8 days after ovulation. Endometrial specimens were assessed by histological and immunohistochemical (evaluation of e-cadherin expression) methods. Results . In patients with reproductive failure, the frequency of apparent E-cadherin expression in the luminal (89 %, n = 84 out of 94) and glandular (74 %, n = 89 out of 121) epithelium did not differ from the corresponding indicators in fertile women (luminal epithelium — 94 %, n = 15 out of 16, gland — 88 %, n = 14 out of 16) (p > 0.05 for all indicators). The frequency of reduced E-cadherin endometrial expression was similar in patients of the main group with complete secretory transformation of the endometrium (1), incomplete secretory transformations (2) and in healthy women (3): respectively in the luminal epithelium — 7 % (n = 3 out of 43) (1), 14 % (n = 7 out of 52) (2), 6 % (n = 1 out of 16) (p > 0.05); in the glands — 20 % (n = 10 out of 51) (1), 31 % (n = 22 out of 70) (2), 13 % (n = 2 out of 16) (3) (p > 0.05). Conclusion . In patients with the history of reproductive disfunctions freaquency of lower/higher E-cadherin expression was similar to those in healthy fertile women.